Copy That!

Photo: Maud Taber-Thomas

Does this look like fun, or what?! Copying from the Masters is a time-honored tradition in the art world. Ever since the Louvre Museum in Paris opened to the public in 1793, painters have flocked there to hone their skills by copying the museum's great masterworks. The list of those "copyists" is like a Who's Who of the art world over the past century or two. Interestingly, the copyists include not only the great classical painters (Turner, Ingres), but also those who were breaking new ground, and moving in a completely different direction from the artists whose work they copied. Such ground-breakers as the Impressionists Manet and Degas, and even some Modernists (Chagall, Giacometti) spent time copying the masterworks in the Louvre. 

Photo: (c) Lesley Powell 2013
Artist copying Degas at the Musee d'Orsay

The concept behind copying is that, by learning how the great master solved various problems, one improves one's own artistic technique and finds solutions to one's own problems. Paul Cezanne went to the Louvre regularly to copy Michelangelo and Rubens. He said "The Louvre is the book where we learn to read".

Closer to home, the copyist tradition is alive and well at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Also, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery permits copying, pursuant to these regulations for obtaining a permit.

Lesley drawing at Musee d'Orsay

I have spent time drawing in the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay (above), using charcoals and pencils. That does not require a permit. Perhaps in the future I will consider getting a permit and following in the steps of the copyists, just to see what the fuss is all about...