Page 28 - sarah-simblet_sketch-book-for-the-artist
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ANIMALS28
Presence and Mood
THESE DRAWINGS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN to s h o w t w o v e r y from the dark of the sea and of our nightmares. Apparently
different ways of picturing a wild animal. Hugo mixed his drawn in its o w n ink, it silently rises to the light, conjured
media and drew from memory and imagination to create by the hand of a great author of French literary fiction.
narrative atmosphere. By contrast, Gericault took a sharp
pencil to make repeated direct observations from life. Gericault's sheet appears almost scratched by the
ferocious play of his cat. He has watched her pounce,
Hugo's page is flooded with the fearful presence of a snarl, and turn, drawing her again and again to pin down
remembered octopus. As if disturbed from its gritty bed the texture of her loose skin, her bony frame, her sharp
by our presence and curiosity, the ominous beast unwinds teeth, and her distinctive temperament.
VICTOR HUGO
Poet, novelist, playwright,
and leader of the French
Romantic movement. Hugo's
novels Les Miserables and
The Hunchback of Notre
Dame have become classics
of film and stage. His copious
drawings are characterized
by mixed media, drama, and
a love of accident.
Layers and shadows Throughout
this drawing, linseed oil soaked
into the paper has made shadows
and repelled the ink to create
translucent tentacles. The octopus
is formed in layers applied and
distressed with a brush. Surrounding
sprays of graphite powder are stuck
into washes of oil and ink to
suggest glutinous depths.
Mixed media Here, Hugo used
graphite powder, ink and linseed
oil on paper. He wrote to poet and
art critic Charles-Pierre Baudelaire
about his experiments, saying
"... I've ended up mixing in pencil,
charcoal, sepia, coal dust, soot,
and all sorts of bizarre concoctions
which manage to convey more
or less what I have in view, and
above all in mind...".
Pieuvre
1866-69
91/2 x81/8in (242 x 207 mm)
VICTOR HUGO
