For centuries, illustration has been the art form that has most excited the many, not just the few. Pictorial art in service of an idea, illustration is designed to communicate specific messages to the public. It is a public art form from its inception that is available to everyone with ocular vision whether king or pauper.
In the hands of the right person an illustration can bring a fictional character or an historic figure to quivering life; it can seduce us to engage in the contents of books on infinite numbers of topics, as well as fill our rooms or car with the music inside a fetching record sleeve ; it can give us understanding of that which, by nature, is impossible to describe – whether the ghostly outline of an idea, the actual appearance of the head of a pin, the nucleus of a cell, or the nature of a beast or a human, whether snarling or shy.
The power of illustration cannot be underestimated. When partnered with the written word it transforms the amorphous contents of one’s imagination into vivid memories, many so intense they endure for a lifetime. It allows a child to access text long before they can read. It gives all of us access to the complexities of the natural and artificial worlds, whether macro or micro-scopic. Illustration documents, narrates, persuades and embellishes. It brings a smile to our morning rituals in the form of a well-crafted pocket cartoon.
Each medium for illustration has its own demands and offers its own opportunities. Woodcut lines can be primitively thick in the hands of an amateur and eloquent in the hands of a Durer; pure pen and ink delivers the necessary fluency of the ineradicable line; engraving offers the energy of repeated scratched lines; lithography offers a broad, chalky sweep like a brush; crayon drawing offers the texture inherent in the superimposition of layers of colour; photo-lithography enables the reproduction of an original watercolour or crayon drawing; gouache gives substance and thickness to watercolour; serigraphs (silkscreen) and block-printing can present extensive planes of separate, rich and eye-catching colours.
Illustration contributes a world of superb imagery to the history of art, yet it is too often overlooked, if not scorned, as not being in the same “class” as works of “fine” art. Yet there are endless instances of this art form in which we can see compositions that are just as thoughtful and skilfully executed in their placement of line, form and colour, just as emotionally powerful, just as profound in their implications, just as “original” as many works of art deemed ‘museum quality’.
This Inscape Autumn course will provide an introduction to western illustration practices from the dawn of the print revolution to the digital age. We gladly add our Inscape perspective to the current effort by scholars to enlighten the world about an art form so long marginalised by the elite guardians of “fine” art. The time has come to revaluate the contribution that applied and reproduced imagery makes to our shared visual culture. Please join us!
Booking Information:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
This online course via Zoom will be presented by Nicholas Friend, Academic Director of Inscape. It begins on Tuesday 20 September 2022 at 11 am, repeating on Thursdays at 4 pm. It ends on Thursday 17 November 2022.
You may choose to attend all Tuesdays or all Thursdays, or any mixture of these, subject to availability. You may also choose to attend individual sessions. If you would like to attend but cannot manage a particular date, then be assured we will be sending recordings of sessions to all participants. Each session meets from 20 minutes before the advertised time of the lecture, and each lecture lasts roughly one hour, with around 15 minutes discussion.
Cost: £315 members or £385 non-members for the course of 7 sessions or £45 members or £55 non-members per individual session. All sessions are limited to 21 participants to permit discussion.
Due to the coronavirus cheques are not a viable option at this time. Instead, please make your payment to Friend&Friend Ltd by bank transfer to our account with Metrobank, bank sort code 23-05-80, account number 13291721 or via PayPal to nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk, or credit/debit card by phone to Henrietta on 07940 719397. She is available Tuesdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm or Thursdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm. Do get in touch if you would like extra support learning how to use Zoom.
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INSCAPE CULTURAL STUDY SOCIETY 