Drawing in Silver & Gold
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DRAWING IN SILVER & GOLD: MAY Leonardo to Jasper Johns 03 NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART JULY 6th & CONSTITUTION, NW ‘ WASHINGTON, DC 20565 EXHIBITION BY SHERRY CAMHY 202.737.4215 nga.gov PREVIEW 26 (OPPOSITE PAGE) LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519), Studies of Hands,c. 1489-90, metalpoint (probably silverpoint) over charcoal, heightened with white, on paper, 8 7/16 x 5 7/8 in. Royal Collection Trust/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II © 2014 To be exhibited in Lon- don only (THIS PAGE) SHERRY CAMHY (B. 1940), Sculpture Study, 2011, silver and gold on wood, 40 x 30 in. Collection of the artist FINEARTCONNOISSEUR· COM MAY/ JUNE 2015 085 f you have never heard of metalpoint, you artworks being borrowed from public and private collec- Because silver was traditionally the most commonly used are not alone. A surprising number of art- tions worldwide, plus many more images that set them into material, most metalpoint images have generally been smart people have not either. Until recently, context. Represented in this show is a wide array of artists lumped together as “silverpoints,” but today, investigators few schools taught this technique, and of differing sensibilities, working in such diverse cultures as can use microscopes, technical imaging, and non-invasive fewer art supply stores sold the necessary Renaissance Italy, 17th-century Holland, Victorian Britain, chemical analysis to be more precise. materials. Only a handful of American and 20th-century America. Among the bold-faced names Silver remains the material of choice because its warm museums own examples of it, and those involved are Raphael, Dürer, Holbein, and Rembrandt. glowing color tarnishes with age to become even more that do rarely put them on view. Major In her catalogue essay, the National Gallery’s paper radiant. Although copper tarnishes, too, its coloring var- exhibitions devoted to metalpoint are few conservator Kimberly Schenck helpfully clarifies the ter- ies unpredictably among green, orange, brown, or red hues. and far between. minology: “metalpoint” refers to “drawings created by a Gold does not tarnish, of course; its marks do not look shiny Fortunately, this last fact is about to change. The long- tool made of a metal or combination of metals of any type, yellow as you might expect, but instead cool gray. Since sil- awaited exhibition Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to whereas ‘silverpoint’ designates that the tool was made ver becomes tawny over time, it is sometimes confused with Jasper Johns, will appear at Washington’s National Gallery primarily of silver.” Indeed, artists over the centuries have gold, as noted in several of the catalogue entries. Made by of Art from May 3 through July 26 before moving to the used not only silver, but also gold, copper, lead, iron, zinc, the artist Susan Schwalb (b. 1944), the abstract image Strata British Museum in London (September 10-December 6). platinum, aluminum, and brass. It is often difficult to be #295 in this exhibition is a striking demonstration of how At press time, I had seen only the exhibition’s handsome sure which metal was actually used in a drawing unless that silver, gold, copper, aluminum, brass, and platinum can be catalogue, which illustrates and documents all 105 of the information was passed down from trustworthy sources. used together to stirring effect. (THIS PAGE) ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528), Head of a Woman, c. 1505-07, silverpoint with brush and wash (or traces of chalk), heightened with white over blind sty- lus under-drawing on paper, 8 9/16 x 7 1/8 in. © The Trustees of the British Museum, London (OPPOSITE PAGE) JOSEPH EDWARD SOUTHALL (1861-1944), Head of a Girl, 1899, metalpoint (probably silverpoint) with scratching on paper, 7 7/8 x 6 15/16 in. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, Pasadena 086 MAY/ JUNE 2015 FINEARTCONNOISSEUR· COM In the past, artists placed a short piece of metal into a and using blind drawing (cutting through the surface with modern-day possibilities of metalpoint. And it so happens “stylus,” a holder made of wood or ivory. Now, artists usually a sharp tool into the primer tone below). As new materi- that even more metalpoint exhibitions are coming into place the metal into something that resembles a mechani- als appear, artists eagerly use them to extend the possibili- view during the year ahead: cal pencil. In fact, metalpoint was the Old Masters’ pencil ties. Today we are free to work on almost any size of two- or • Art Students League of New York, New York City because graphite did not become widely available until three-dimensional surface, prepared with ingredients that (on view through May 31) the early 19th century. Metalpoints are hard, and the lines make erasing easy, the use of color, texture, and mixed • Hearne Fine Art, Little Rock (May 6-June 27) they make are consistently even; they do not smudge easily, media tempting, and even installation art feasible. • Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, California but they are also very difficult to erase, so each line must It does seem surprising that the National Gallery exhi- (November 21, 2015-January 3, 2016) be considered carefully in advance. Darker areas must be bition contains so few examples of modern and contem- • Norfolk Arts Center, Norfolk, Nebraska developed patiently with repeated strokes. porary work, and also that only one female artist (Susan (January 7-February 28, 2016) The huge size of the National Gallery show makes it Schwalb) is represented. In his catalogue essay about the Let’s all enjoy this rare bounty of presentations, and possible — for the first time ever in America — to juxta- more recent works, Bruce Weber mentions many relevant let’s spread the word about metalpoint far and wide. pose the varying uses of line by metalpoint artists of dif- women artists, yet for some reason they are not going to be ferent temperaments working in very different eras. This is exhibited in Washington or London. Weber knows of what SHERRY CAMHY is an artist, writer, and teacher. She most easily done by comparing the way they address the he writes, having organized America’s first major exhibition curated a silverpoint exhibition at New York City’s same motif, for example portraits, hands, and profiles. of metalpoint back in 1985 for what is now the R.W. Nor- National Arts Club in 2013, and also the metalpoint show Early on, metalpoint artists began to experiment with ton Art Gallery in Shreveport. now on view at the Art Students League. An example of mixed media to add a greater range of darks and lights, as Setting this concern aside, Drawing in Silver and her art is illustrated on the title page of this article. well as colors. They did this by toning their surfaces, high- Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns will surely introduce tens lighting with white, applying water media, chalks, and inks, of thousands of museum visitors to the past glories and (THIS PAGE, LEFT) HANS HOLBEIN THE ELDER (c. 1465-1524), Portrait of a Woman, c. 1508, silverpoint with brush and ink, over charcoal and leadpoint, heightened with white on paper, 5 11/16 x 4 1/16 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (THIS PAGE, RIGHT) JOSEPH STELLA (1877-1946), Self-Portrait, c. 1925, metalpoint (probably silverpoint) and graphite on paper, 30 3/16 x 22 3/16 in. Philadelphia Museum of Art (OPPOSITE PAGE) ANDREW MACCALLUM (1821-1902), Forest of Scots Firs (Ballochbuie), 1876, silverpoint and goldpoint (?) with scraping on Bristol board, 12 13/16 x 9 7/16 in. Royal Collection Trust/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II © 2014 088 MAY/ JUNE 2015 FINEARTCONNOISSEUR· COM.