Homework 2 – The Secret of Drawing 1 – The Line of Enquiry
AU20 ART 2100 – Beg Dwg
Chiara Ziska 8-25-20
I was prepared to watch an amusing documentary in which the narrator visually leads us through some of history’s most influential artists/ drawings. I was not, however, prepared to watch a heart surgeon, Francis Wells, document an open-heart surgery with the patient’s blood. Perhaps it was his fascination and admiration for Leonardo Da Vinci that fueled his morbid artistic peculiarity, veiled by his medical altruism. His disturbing choice of media seems to fall in line behind his more gruesome predecessors, who also used art as a tool to study even the most disturbing of subject matters. George Stubbs’ intense curiosity drove him to not only study live horses but to almost excessively draw and analyze the horse carcasses, layer by layer, piece by piece. Could a very disturbing debate be made over whose methods- Da Vinci or Stubbs’- were more vexing and gruesome? Probably, but it would be a very gripping and off-putting one.
The artists I chose do not necessarily intrigue me as artists I would use as inspiration (Da Vinci is the exception, he has always been my favorite artist). Wells and Stubbs do create an interesting argument about whether or not “art” is a valid excuse for extremely gross behavior. Had I never watched the documentary I would have blindly thought Wells’ created intricate drawings of the anatomy of animals, however knowing his process both intrigues and disgusts me, the hard work and obvious dedication yielded in undeniable results. Stubbs, on the other hand, has left me uncomfortable and untrustworthy of the medical professionals. Was he fueled by curiosity, driven by the hope that his drawings will lead to greater medical discoveries? Or was his “process” an unhealthy obsession? Best let the work speak for itself.