Vasari and Bronzino considered drawing an accessory to painting and sculpture, literally a stepping stone in their creative process rather than an independent form of artistic expression.
While most of the artists above seem to agree on the importance of contour drawing as a skill, they differ in their application of its function. These images also show how, like Brooks, he was able to, “deconstruct the sitter to the bare essence of line.” 9 As one of Picasso’s contemporaries it is easy to assume the practice was adopted from the master himself, but surprisingly, it was Brooks who first utilized this technique from a very early age, almost 20 years before. The sinuous lines of the drawings appear to encircle the figures making their chairs and the sitter one being that is fixed to the two-dimensional plane on which they were drawn. An overview of Picasso’s drawings from his neoclassical phase (roughly starting around 1915) highlights his ability to, “synthesize a naturalistic representation by clearing out all superfluous information.” 8 Picasso’s Portrait of Igor Stravinsky (1920 above slideshow), and his Portrait of Max Jacob (1915 above slideshow), are two examples of the continuous contour line technique. It is no surprise that Picasso briefly tried out contour drawing, considering his prolific and experimental nature. Other modernists also sought out this technique to innovate in the realm of art. For Brooks it would move one step further, to the realm of private, unconscious thought and feeling. Let us therefore acknowledge and exploit the convention of the outline, the contour." 6 Within the example provided in the bulletin titled, Natives and Peacocks (c.1895-1903 above slideshow) Gauguin’s Tahitian drawings reflect this attitude through, “bold, undisguised outlines.” 7 For Gauguin, then, contour represented a decisive move toward art and away from nature. For example, avant-garde modernist, Paul Gauguin, recorded his thoughts as follows: "Art is not nature… we cannot create a succession and recession of planes. According to Bronzino, "all that pertains to art are the lines that circumscribe a body, which are on the surface therefore, the three-dimensional does not appertain to art but to nature." 5 This emphasis of line in art over dimensionality in nature would prevail in later references to contour drawing in the twentieth century. Vasari was not the only sixteenth century artist to believe in the power of a simple line drawing. Quotes from the unpublished memoirs of Romaine Brooks Vasari deemed the flat effect of a contour line, “‘the most masterful’ form of drawing.” 2As a prolific draughtsman himself, he asserted, “rather than rely on wash for shading,” an artist, “should maximize the white of the paper’s surface itself.” 3 Ultimately, Vasari declared, “that line drawings without any addition of chiaroscuro were an indication of consummate skill.” 4 "No Pleasant Memories" As the most articulate art historian of the Italian Renaissance, Vasari discussed the practical values of line in relation to the Paragone, or the ongoing debate between the superiority of painting versus sculpture. In looking at the history of contour line drawings and its uses within this discipline, the writings of Giorgio Vasari are extremely helpful. Contour drawing has always been an integral aspect of fine art as a discipline.
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