The 19th Century had to be Photography’s greatest moment! Unlike photography’s current popularity which is dominated by collectors vying with each other, the 19th Century (very early 1800’s through 1899) was fueled by a creative surge guided by whoever could develop the most innovative and creative device, enabling artists to envision a brave new photographic world. Granted, painters and draughtsmen in the Renaissance and before used such tools as the Camera Obscura and later the Camera Lucida, but never were there so many artist inventors vying and collaborating for new ways of seeing before 1800. That energy would later make a transformative mark on everything we know today about cameras, printing and photographic communication.
I am a photographer with a passionate love for drawing so it was kismet when I learned of the Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs exhibition called Drawing: The Muse of Photography. All the superstars of the day are represented here: William Henry Fox Talbot, Nègre, Daguerre, Delacroix, Gustave Le Gray, Sir John Frederick Herschel, as well as many more artists too numerous to mention.
The show also features pictures made by various processes and instruments such as Cliché verre, the Camera Lucida, the Camera Obscura, Dessin-fumée and Photogenic Drawing – and there is no shortage of interesting written materials explaining these devices and processes.
But the best and most satisfying aspect of the installation is the work itself, such as the gorgeous drawings of Sir John Herschel, a special watercolor study of sailing vessels by the Reverend Calvert Richard Jones, and the elegant Harmonograph drawings of Frederick H. Evans. One of my own heartthrobs is a small oil painting made around 1845 by Henri Le Secq of an Italian woman.
So the next logical step for me, inspired as I was, was to try to use one of these devices. I quickly found my answer from Shelley Dowell, at the gallery who gave me information about a latter-day Camera Lucida called the NeoLucida. (For those interested the link is https://neolucida.com/neolucida-xl-product). A bit of advice; the NeoLucida XL for $75 is far more user-friendly than its $39 junior. It is an inspired device and if you try it – even for photographers who have never drawn before, it is a delight! The best part is that not only do you get satisfaction from making drawings perhaps for the first time, but it will also help your photography by finding a whole new way of seeing light, composition and, above all, volume and form, two staples of photography.
While the NeoLucida XL is relatively easy to use, here are some tips I can provide from my own exploration. Find your own angle when looking through the eyepiece and try not to wander from that position lest your subject’s elements start to appear in different places on your sheet of paper. That could for example result in a nose appearing in your sitter’s cheek. Also, check your drawing often to see that your elements are indeed in the correct places. If you are drawing a person or portrait, ask your sitter to hold as steady as possible; not doing so will again lead to the risk of elements being in the wrong place on your sheet. Start your first drawing with a still life rather than a person as the still life doesn’t move, thereby simplifying your process. Begin your first drawing with a pencil rather than a pen or brush. Also have a kneaded eraser on hand for erasures which will surely help on your first few encounters.
DRAWING: The Muse of Photography is on my greatest hit list of all engrossing shows. It would be a shame to miss it whether you are a photographer, a devotee of the medium or you just want to see some great images. Finally I hope this exhibition opens up dimensions of seeing and visual perceptions for everyone as it did for me!
Neal Slavin
DRAWING: The Muse of Photography
is extended and will be on view upon the gallery’s reopening
Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs
962 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10028
