The Model

Life drawing was the one thread that carried on through all the years at art school. Arriving at the school for the first time  in 1966 we were allocated a locker on the first floor to store our art materials. We were given a list of items to buy at the art shop run by the delightful Mrs.Sheesby. The shop was well stocked and the prices were very reasonable . A huge sheet of poster paper was about 2c at that time. Charcoal sticks were also on the list. There was no oil painting allowed in the first year. I don’t think acrylics were available yet. A drawing board purchased is still in use in my studio to this day. On Mondays and Fridays we had a full day of life drawing with Carl Buchner. I think art history with Neville Dubow was late on a Friday afternoon. We all gathered in a large room with a podium at one end. The class which was extremely large in the beginning consisted mainly of women and a few men. There must have been about 30 students. Everyone stood behind their easels with large sheets of paper clipped to a piece of hardboard. In anticipation we awaited the arrival of Mr Buchner and the model. At some point the model arrived dressed in a gown and positioned herself on a stool. Her name was Aza. When Mr Buchner made his entrance what struck me was his white smock with ruffles on the end of the sleeves and collar. He looked very much like the figure of a drawing master. What he told us that day that I can no longer remember but he posed the model and then she unrobed for us to start drawing. He then departed. It was probably the first time most of us had drawn the naked human figure and most of us felt less embarrassed by hiding behind our drawing boards peering out occasionally to get a good look to carry on. At some point he would reappear and move from easel to easel giving a bit of guidance to the student in his soft spoken voice. He encouraged us to draw with our whole body and to use the arm extended to make sweeping strokes. This was to prevent students from making fiddly little studies.

At some later stage Professor Maurice van Essche, the principal of the art school, would make an appearance. A fierce looking man with owl rimmed glasses, he introduced himself and in his thick Belgium accent stated, 'I’m Maurice Charles Louis van Essche.  Why I remember that I do not know but here I thought was a man with an enormous ego. As he did the rounds he would look at my drawing and say ; “ YOU MUST CONSTRUCT, CONSTUCT! With that thought in my mind that I have never forgotten, he would move on to the next student. I think he and Buchner got on well at the time. Under that gruff exterior was probably quite a nice old gentleman but we never really got to know him.

It’s interesting that there are certain things that each lecturer imparts to one that is lodged in the memory. Bill Davis told us a story that when he was a student in Holland, in their life drawing class, they started drawing the model on the ground floor of the building. The next year the model moved to the floor above but the students carried on drawing on the ground floor. To get a good look one had to run up a flight of stairs. The following year the model moved up to a still higher level and the distance to get a look was even greater. This developed one’s muscle memory. Bill didn’t teach us drawing but in his sculpture class he also exclaimed; If you get the big things right, the little things will look after themselves! I’ve never forgotten that valuable advice. In our third year Stanley Pinker arrived. Carl Buchner was acting principal as Maurice van Essche had fallen ill. Pinker had a different approach to drawing. I think we were allowed to use smaller sheets of paper. We did five minute and ten minute poses. The model would pose and then go away leaving us to draw from memory. He would get you to draw in reverse or draw the figure upside down. He would actually make suggestions by drawing on your piece of paper, something Buchner never would do.

Over the years that I was there the models were: Rose, the senior model followed by Aza. The other two were Mary and Mali the youngest. Someone reminded me there was also Alma. They were employed at Michaelis for many years and must have been drawn in the buff by many hundreds of students. What became of all those large sheets of drawings that we all did will forever remain a mystery