September 2015

The prehistoric artist who created this drawing in France's Lascaux Cave uses a bold, dark outline to depict a bull. He or she captures the large scale of the animal's torso and the graceful curves of its horns. The artist adds small marks to represent the animal's face.

Peter Paul Rubens, an artist of the Flemish Baroque, uses stylized lines and precise details to balance this scene. He represents the hay on the left with quick, repeating lines, and hints at the buildings in the background by drawing only the important structural lines. He shows the cart in the foreground with sharp lines and careful shading.

For many artists, drawing is a tool for developing an idea. Jean-Antoine Watteau, a French Rococo artist, is best known for his paintings. But here he sketches several people turning their heads at different angles. He captures their clothing, hairstyles, and facial expressions. It is likely that Watteau created these sketches in preparation for a painting.

French Romanticist painter Theodore Géricault uses drawing as a tool to better understand how to capture the way a horse moves. He spent a great deal of time at the French Palace of Versailles, where he had access to the palace stables. He practiced sketching horses in motion, emphasizing the animals' musculature.

Jean Auguste Ingres, a French Neoclassical artist, created this sketch while preparing to paint a portrait. In his paintings, Ingres tried to capture fabric with photorealistic accuracy. He focuses on the fabric in this sketch, rather than the woman’s face. Dark lines emphasize the folds in the fabric, and lightly sketched lines show areas of shadow.

In many of his paintings, French Impressionist Edouard Manet renders his subjects with hard edges. He approaches the figure in this sketch the same way. Manet uses distinct contour lines to represent the woman's features and the details in her hat. Then he adds parallel lines that indicate areas of light and shadow. 

American Realist John Singer Sargent is best known for his portraits. Here he uses only a few lines to depict a young girl. The tilt of her chin and her downcast eyes show the girl’s personality. Fine lines illustrate her hair and collar, and darker lines emphasize the importance of her expression.

French Impressionist Claude Monet introduces a painterly quality in this drawing of a famous bridge in London. He uses dense pastel to capture the shape of the bridge. Then he adds layers of loose lines to show the way water swirls around the bridge’s pillars. By using several shades of blue, Monet creates a sense of the water's depth.

A new artistic movement called Futurism developed in Italy in 1909. Italian poet F.T. Marinetti encouraged artists to celebrate "a new beauty, the beauty of speed.” In this drawing, Italian artist Umberto Boccioni uses line to represent the speed of a bicycle in motion. Diagonal lines seem to show the bike slicing through space.

French Neo-Impressionist Paul Signac uses diagonal lines to create the illusion of depth in this drawing. The edges of the river guide the viewer’s eye to the bridge in the middle ground. The buildings on the left also form a diagonal line, leading to the background. 

American artist Elizabeth Catlett uses shading to develop three-dimensionality in this drawing. The deepest shadow, under the brim of the woman's hat, directs the viewer's eye to the highlights on her cheekbone. Each highlight and shadow illustrates the contours of the woman’s face.