Ink Drawing Technique: Prescriptions from the Nineteenth-Century Art School According to Gustave Frepon

Abstract

Continuing its series of articles on drawing techniques, Secreta Artis presents an abridged and adapted translation of a unique text from a manual on ink drawing methods, accompanied by a commentary. The text and illustrations, which outline and demonstrate three pen techniques: lining, hatching, and dotting (extremely rare and methodologically valuable information), were published in 1897 in the French artist Gustave Fraipont's book "L'art d'appliquer ses connaissances en dessin: fusain, crayon, plume, eau-forte, lithographie, execution des dessins pour la photogravure et la gravure sur bois, l'art de prendre un croquis". Fraipont's comprehensive work explores a wide array of graphic arts, including charcoal, pencil, etching, lithography, woodcut, and more.

However, despite the popularity of G. Fraipont's works in the latter half of the 19th century, including seven manuals on watercolor painting, composition, drafting, and sketching that were translated and published in Moscow and St. Petersburg between 1893 and 1895, his work on ink drawing techniques was not translated into Russian. This material is highly relevant for studying the history of 19th-century graphics, the academic art school of that era, and for mastering drawing techniques.