Learning to see faces

One approach to learning anything is to see what the masters have done - so I'm having at look at portraiture, especially drawing but not ignoring painting. Some of my "reference and inspiration" comes from the numerous art magazines I've been unable to throw out until now (they were waiting, obviously, for just this purpose - and can now be released), and those found online will be accumulated in a blog post or two.

On the internet, where to start ... well, anywhere ... one thing leads to another....

Ana Maria Pacheco's sculptures have always appealed to me, and her drawings/prints do not disappoint. Here is one of her "Bandits" -

The series "Rehearsal" consists of 10 drypoints -

"Every Man Wears a Head on His Shoulder" is an etching made in 1981 -

R.B. Kitaj's "Ed Dorn" is a screenprint done in 1966 -

The next two are from a selection of Kitaj drawings here -

Frank Auerbach - what to say - at first I didn't appreciate his drawings at all, but as I've done more drawing myself they are making more sense. Both "Lucian Freud" and "Jake" were among the prints shown at Abbot Hall in 2008.

 

"Head of E.O.W. IV" is from his Wikipedia page -

Another etching, "Leon Kosoff", is at the National Portrait Gallery -

The search continues - looking for how these artists use mark and line to form that complex thing, a portrait.