To decipher an artist's process, students often learn by copying. Having set up an easel at the National Gallery in London, even the painter, Lucien Freud, veered away from his own encrusted surfaces to mimic the more subtle hand of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. Don't get me wrong. His copy was by no means a faithful reproduction. Rather, with Freud's defined brush strokes, The Young Schoolmistress, went from being mildly imposing to oddly human.
Below, Neha customizes an assignment, which I call "Learning from a Master". First she duplicates a self-portrait by the late Al Hirschfeld. Then follows up with a drawing, imagining the director, Alfred Hitchcock, in the fluid hand of this notable caricaturist. The final drawing, with his doleful eyes, and the sculpting of light and shadow, is Neha's own unique play on this iconic figure.
Interestingly enough, this youtube video of Al Hirschfeld shows his process:
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