BARGUE LESSON PLANBY MANDY HALLENIUS www.mandyhallenius.comAND JULIETTE ARISTIDES www.aristidesarts.com

With support from

LEON LOWENSTEIN FOUNDATION, INC.ART RENEWAL CENTER www.artrenewal.orgGAGE ACADEMY OF ART www.gageacademy.org

BARGUE LESSON PLAN

Charles Bargue was instrumental in creating a late 19th century drawing course. Bargue believed that when students copied drawings by trained artists, that their own observation skills significantly improved. Additionally, Bargue believed that drawing from antique sculptures taught design and taste to budding artists, so many of his copying plates show these subjects.

Students can still learn a great deal from these copying plates today. This lesson is designed to combine the drawing concepts learned in the envelope, line, and value lesson plans in order to produce a technically solid copy of a Bargue plate.

The objective of this lesson is to copy a Bargue plate to the best of the students ability. Using an envelope will set the proportions for the student copy. Using straight lines with accurate angles will help the drawing copy to closely resemble the original. Closely observing values will keep the light and dark organization in the drawing similar to the value organization in the original Bargue plate. All of these concepts must be practiced in concert in order to produce a technically competent copy of a Bargue plate.

The two Bargue plates in this lesson plan are already broken down into steps for students to follow. The first step shows the original envelope that Bargue started his drawing with, as well as a few, big, major, straight lines of the subject.

The second step shows a more fully developed block-in drawing that again uses big, major, straight lines.

The third step shows a rendering of the subject with a clear organization of values. Notice that in the shadow portion of the Bargue plates that there is no area lighter then the darkest area of the light portion. Notice in the light areas that there is no value darker than the lightest area of the shadow areas. This maintains the value organization of the Bargue plate.

STEP 1 STEP 3STEP 2

MATERIALS:

PaperPencilsKneaded ErasersSkewersBargue PlatesDrawing Board

PROCEDURE:

1. Tape the Bargue plate (there are three Bargue plates, you want to tape the one that shows the shading onto your board) and a piece of paper side by side on your drawing board.

2. Using your skewer, measure the height of the image on the Bargue plate.3. Mark this height onto your drawing paper.4. Using your skewer, measure the width of the image on the Bargue plate.5. Mark this width onto your drawing paper.6. Look carefully at the envelope on the first of the three Bargue plates, and try to recreate

this on your drawing paper. Make sure that your envelope coincides with your height and width measurements.

7. Look carefully at the second of the three Bargue plates. Notice how the image is broken down from the envelope using big, straight lines. Also, notice how some lines have coincidences. Try to recreate the exact same number and angle of lines onto your drawing paper.

8. Observe values on the third Bargue plate carefully. Find the darkest values on the Bargue plate, and shade these in on your drawing paper.

9. Working from the darkest values to the lightest values, draw the values that you observe from your Bargue plate onto you drawing paper.

BARGUE PLATE ASSESSMET

3 POINTS 4 POINTS 5 POINTS POINTS EARNED

EnvelopeEnvelope uses curved lines or many lines. The envelope does not efficiently describe the subject.

Envelope uses straight lines but could be simplified by using fewer lines and/or the envelope has too much space between itself and the subject.

Envelope uses a small number of straight lines. Envelope efficiently describes the subject. Envelope closely hugs the subject.

LinesFew line angles are closely observed and/or lines are curved. Many insignificant lines are included in the drawing.

Line angles are sometimes accurately observed. Most lines are straight. Some big major lines are used in the drawing.

Line angles are accurately observed. Lines are straight. Big, major lines are used in the drawing.

ValuesFew values maintain a hierarchy.

Most values maintain a hierarchy.

Values maintain a hierarchy. There are no values in the light areas that are darker than the lightest areas in the shadow part. There are no values in the shadow part that are lighter than the darkest part of the light areas.TOTAL

NOTES: