When
Graydon Parrish was here to teach the color workshop, he gave a great lecture on Bouguereau's picture making process. Graydon is an expert on the work of William Bouguereau and has so much to share on the subject. His lecture emphasised the amount of preparation that went into Bouguereau's paintings. He would work on multiple studies, making lots of changes along the way before he started the final painting. This series of sketches and studies building up to the famous "Nymphs et Satyrs" is a great example:
Thumbnail sketches - where it all begins
detail of the thumbnail sketch
Satyr sketch
Nymph sketches, finding the right pose
color study for the Satyr
Sketch, trying out different poses
Cartoon, still adjusting the poses
Poster study in oil paint
The final painting: Nymphs et Satyrs, by William Bouguereau, 1873
That was a great lecture....many thanks to GCA for making them available.
ReplyDeleteQuestion... Hopefully I can get a response from Graydon but I'll ask anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bouguereau painted complicated compositions like this, could he have modeled some the flesh tones from memory?
Of course no one is holding the dynamic poses in this piece so I was just curious as to how the process possibly went.
Thanks
Any response is appreciated.
Bouguereau idealized his flesh tones, so likely he did them from memory and conceptually. Often, too, he would keep the model at hand for reference.
ReplyDeleteI see. That makes it even more amazing for me!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response.
Thanks so much for posting this! It's fascinating seeing the steps that came before this gorgeous piece of work!
ReplyDeletehow cai i lear bouguereau's technique? someone could help me!please
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this. Exactly what I was hoping to find. And, cudos to my painting instructor, Mira, for repeatedly suggesting that we use a similar series of steps.
ReplyDelete