Research Point: Back drawing

Find some printmaking artists who us back drawing. Examine how they use it and evaluate it. Does it work well? What can you learn from it? 

Paul Klee

As I have already stated in the previous exercise, I first encountered back drawing as a technique under the name 'oil transfer' when I visited the Paul Klee exhibition on an OCA study list back in 2014. My write up of the exhibition can be viewed by clicking here. For the purpose of this research point I will confine myself to his back drawn images. I have chosen three examples which I saw 'in the flesh' at the exhibition although Klee produced many more back drawn works. 

(1)Paul Klee 'City Between Realms' (City in the Intermediate Realm)
1921 Oil transfer and watercolour on paper

'City Between Realms' is in landscape format and it is apparent that the oil transfer was from a plate or piece of paper which was smaller then the finished monoprint because there are quite a lot of accidental marks from the printing ink and these stop abruptly where the edge of the plate must have been and are contained well within the margins of the paper. Klee has used watercolour in shades of yellow ochre and a dark green/grey with the darker areas towards the edge of the paper such that the drawing is contained in a bright halo. His line work is impressively precise and fine. This suggests the paper must be relatively thin. However, Klee would have had to use paper sufficiently strong to stand up to the use of watercolour. He must have used a fine instrument to draw with. There are also quite a lot of straight lines - I can't believe that he would have used a ruler to draw these as it would have left a mark where it was pressed down. It is most likely that he created the oil transfer drawing before adding the watercolour because he has embellished certain shapes within the drawing with light washes of the grey and the ochre. 

The subject of the drawing consist of simplified architectural forms. A circle at the top right may represent the sun. There are shapes which look like bells on bell towers as well as several 'tombstone' shapes in vertical and horizontal orientation. In the top one third of the drawing there are crucifix shapes. Dark zig-zag arrows point upwards and more prominently downwards. Do they point towards heaven and hell?

(2)Paul Klee 'Comedy' 1921 Oil Transfer and watercolour
on paper

I like the collection of elongated part-humanoid creatures in Klee's 'Comedy'. This again is in landscape format, the creatures appearing to be in procession across the page. As well as the finely executed lines, in this drawing, Klee has used small marks to introduce a textural element. There is a lot more transfer of oil around the figures in this one which can be clearly seen where the background wash is lighter at the bottom and the top of the page. This adds even more of a textural element to the drawing and clearly shows the texture of the paper itself with its laid lines. This makes me wonder whether Klee has chosen the darker background wash with lighter tones on the figures to prevent the figures from getting lost amongst the accidental marks. The graduated dark green was reaches its darkest at the upper 1/2-1/3rd of the paper which focuses the viewer's attention here due to the highest contrast and the heads/faces of the players being here. The figures are accentuated in white, pale yellow and pale grey. The interplay between the dark background and pale figures certainly serves to accentuate the figures. Most of the figures are in vertical orientation but one seems to be lying down with another standing on top - have they fallen and are being trampled or are they acrobats performing a stunt?

(3)Paul Klee 'Ghost of a Genius' 1922
Oil Transfer and Watercolour on Paper

'Ghost of a Genius' is in portrait format and depicts a single figure. The line work is characteristically fine and there is less accidental transfer in this drawing. Maybe he had refined his technique somewhat or maybe this is deliberate so the figure looks isolated within a blank space.  The background wash is a dull putty colour with the figure in shades of pale yellow with pale blue eyes. 

Is this a self portrait? It looks a bit like Klee as can be seen from the photograph shown below. The large head with receding hairline and the small pointed beard give a striking resemblance. The figure has a puppet-like quality with its oversized head and mitten-like hands. Did Klee feel like a puppet or was he just attracted to puppet forms (he used to make puppets) (1). The figure appears melancholy with a dejected tilt of the head and eyes - maybe he feels 'washed up' and is recalling past triumph? 

I was trying to work out what was going on with the figure's nose and Adam's apple area there are several parallel lines in the nose area - it struck me that they look like the frets or strings of a guitar or a violin (the latter being more likely as Klee was also a musician and played the violin)(1). In fact the whole of the figure's head could be read as the body of a violin with the chin rest on his forehead and the strings in his nose area. The neck of the violin becomes the violin's neck. Klee was inspired by music in his visual art. 

(4)Photograph of Paul Klee 1911

I was drawn to Klee's backdrawn monoprints when I first saw them but now that I have attempted to do some myself I am even more impressed by the fineness of the lines he managed to achieve. The watercolour is not just an afterthought but an integral part of these drawings and adds to their impact. When I saw the exhibition, I thought that this was a technique invented by Klee but having done some more research I now think that he may have adapted the technique from work by Gaugin. 

Paul Gauguin 

Gauguin is credited with having invited this technique during his period spent living and working in Tahiti around 1899.(2) We know how Gauguin produced these monotypes because he described the process in a letter to his patron in 1902. He produced about 89 drawings using this technique between 1899 and 1903. Some were simple sketches while others were large and resolved drawings (such as the examples shown here)

He was using a printmanking technique but did not have access to large printing plates or a press where he was working. He therefore applied oil paint or printing ink onto a large piece of paper which essentially takes the place of a plate. He would then place a second sheet of paper over this and draw onto that piece of paper. He drew with hard graphite and soft coloured pencil and he noted that the harder the point and the thinner the paper, the finer the line he could achieve. He often used more than one colour of ink - starting with black for the main and most distinct line work. He would then replace the coated sheet of paper with one coated in a different coloured ink before continuing to draw. (2) (3) In the Tahitian woman image below (Figure 5) the marks in olive green/brown are much softer than the black lines.  

Drawing directly on the back of the overlying sheet has two effects. The first is that there are two drawings on the sheet. The verso drawing is a finely and carefully executed drawing in soft coloured pencil and in graphite. The recto drawing is the oil transfer drawing which is much more dark and mysterious. There is always a certain element of chance in the production of such an image and accidental marks add to the appeal of this to me. The darkness and grainy texture of the oil transfer image on the recto side seems much more in keeping with the dark, mysterious and apparently primitive subject matter and to my eyes, therefore is a more successful drawing than the verso. 

The second effect of drawing directly on the back of the sheet is that it helps avoid problems with registration - I might try this!

(5) Paul Gauguin 'Tahitian Woman with Evil Spirit' c 1900 Verso: Graphite and coloured pencil; Recto:
Oil transfer drawing

The subjects of the first two drawings here are a female figure, naked to the waist and a second male figure with a mask or stylised features with horns. The male figure represents an evil spirit - perhaps a christian devil or a figure from Polynesian myth. The female figure's gaze doesn't reveal emotion - she does not appear overtly fearful. Gaugin based the head of the evil spirit on a wooden sculpture he had already created. The woman in figure 5 came from a photograph of a woman from Tonga. (2)

(6)Paul Gauguin 'Tahitian Woman with Evil Spirit' c 1900
Oil transfer drawing

In figure 7 'Changement de Residence' cher are four figures, three of which are clearly female and the other of which has its back to us, the gender of which I cant determine. The female figure furthest to the left averts her eyes and turns her head away and has her hands together either in an attitude of prayer or applause. The next figure has her eyes downcast. A nude female figure rides a horse - her eyes are also cast down but her gaze seems directed towards the figure with their back to us. The figure whose face we cannot see has their hand raised perhaps in a gesture of leave-taking, waving goodbye? The downcast or averted gazes of the three female figures suggest great sadness or perhaps shame.

The palettes of this drawing is darker than the two above. Perhaps this is deliberate to illustrate the gloomy subject matter of parting? The line work as before is in black but there is extensive use of shading with transferred dark brown ink. There is also a lighter orangey brown shade but I suspect that this is not another colour of ink but leakage of oil into the paper - perhaps he used oil paint for this one? To my eyes, this is somewhat less successful than the two drawings above as the excess of dark brown ink makes the figures more difficult to distinguish. On further research I have found that Gaugin made other versions of this subject in woodcut and also a more preliminary looking sketch in oil transfer in which the figures are distinguished more easily

(7) Paul Gauguin 'Changement du Residence' 1902 Oil transfer
drawing

The crouching Tahitian woman is a motif seen more than once in the work of Gaugin. It seems to emphasise his concept of primitivism with the woman crouching unselfconsciously naked. This iteration in oil transfer seems to have been rapidly and energetically executed. On this occasion, the black lines are thick, velvety and prominent as are the lines that represent shadow. The orangey brown marks which describe the shadow on the shoulders, down the spine and around the buttocks and lower back are fainter and thinner hatching lines which must have been created with a much finer and harder drawing tool. 

(8)Paul Gauguin 'Crouching Tahitian Woman' 1901-1902
Oil transfer drawing 

Tracey Emin

Emin has used backdrawn monoprints extensively among her many other means of self expression. Her drawings are rapidly executed to which this monoprint technique is ideally suited. Her lines are straggly and sometimes jerky suggesting a nervous energy and the back drawing suits this style. 

Most of Emin's work is autobiographical and this includes her 'monoprint diary'. The drawings refer to occurrences in her daily life. They are sometimes drawn on lined notebook paper or file paper. (4)

'Sad Shower' Click here to view on the artist's website  shows the artist as a small isolated figure  standing dejectedly with downturned eyes and slumped shoulder under a trickle of water. 

Many of her monoprints cotton a mixture of print and text. For example 'Terribly Wrong' Click here to view on the Tate Website which perhaps refers to one of Emin's well publicised abortions or a misscarriage. There are echoes of Frida Kahlo also here who covered similar subject matter. Emin's handwriting is irregular and there are often misspellings and letters reversed. 

In a few of her monoprints I have also found references to religious imagery for example 'Woman with Child Scroll' 1991 Seen here on the artist's website. In her drawing technique and the aesthetic of her figures I can also see the influence of Egon Schiele. 

There may also be direct reference to the work of other artists for example this untitled monoprint from 1991 with its embracing figures seeming to levitate and indeterminate figures and shapes around them reminds me strongly of Chagall - but maybe I am over interpreting. 

Backdrawing certainly suits Emin's raw style of working and subject matter. It is suited to rapid execution which is also a benefit for such a prolific artist. 

Richard Downs 

Is a contemporary American artist who works in a variety of media including sculpture, painting and monoprint. 

His monoprints seem to mainly depict couples who are connected in some way or embracing. There are all executed in black and red ink and the red rim of ink around the margins of the paper reminds me very much of Klee's drawings with his watercolour haloes. The couples themselves vary in terms of their degree of abstraction. 

from fairly straightforward simple figure drawings to more abstracted consisting of simple shapes but still recognisable as human - in this latter print, the two faces in profile almost merge to become one and they are also joined by the infinity symbol of hair on top of their heads. Suggesting that their connectedness has gone further than being a couple but each has lost their individual identity. 

The more abstracted images may reflect Downs's interest in Russian constructivism. 

I particularly like the regularity of the parallel lines or dots he uses in the area of the hair - I wonder haw he achieves such precision in these areas - perhaps he uses some kind of tool which draws multiple marks at the same time.

Michela Sorrentino 

Is a Canadian artist. I came across her 2012 series of monoprints by chance when researching monoprints online. 

These monoprints are monochrome and contain lots of repetitive mark making wait subjects ranging from a Shamen's tools to cellular structures. I love this style of working. She manages to achieve quite fine lines by using thin handmade paper. 

I think I am drawn to this work because I thoroughly enjoy Radom doodling and repetitive mark making as a meditative process - for example my random sketchbook doodle shown below. 

What I learnt

• It is possible to achieve finer drawing than I have manages so far
• I am not limited by the size of my plates as I could try rolling ink onto paper in the way that Gaugin and Klee did
• Drawing directly onto the back of thin paper may help produce finer lines and will also eliminate the problem of poor registration when working in multiple layers
• Harder drawing implements with produce fine lines and softer ones produce less distinct lines. 
• As well as rapid sketches it is also possible to produce more finished or resolved drawings

Things to do and try

• Drawing directly on the back of Japanese paper
• Using paper coated in ink instead of a plate
• Drawing on a larger scale
• Drawing in multiple colours in layers
• Mark making with various implements 
• planning and executing a more resolved drawing

References

(1)Friedewald, Boris. Paul Klee: Life and Work  (Prestel 2011).
(2)https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2014/04/16/metamorphoses-paul-gauguins-oil-transfer-drawings/
(3)https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2014/gauguin/techniques
(4)http://www.traceyeminstudio.com/homepage/
(5)http://www.downs-art.com/?section=gallery&gallery_id=29
(6)http://www.michelasorrentino.com/w-2012.html

Image Souces

(1)https://www.pubhist.com/works/20/large/paul_klee_city_intermediate_realm.jpg

(2)http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/N/N05/N05657_10.jpg

(3)https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Paul_Klee_-_Gespenst_eines_Genies_(Ghost_of_a_Genius)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

(4)https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Paul_Klee_1911.jpg

(5)https://www.moma.org/wp/inside_out/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Gauguin_Tahitian_Woman.jpg

(6)https://www.moma.org/d/assets/W1siZiIsIjIwMTUvMTAvMjEvMTgxM3ZwNGg2aF9nYXVndWludGFoaXRpYW53b21hbi5qcGciXSxbInAiLCJjb252ZXJ0IiwiLXJlc2l6ZSAyMDAweDIwMDBeIC1ncmF2aXR5IENlbnRlciAtZXh0ZW50IDIwMDB4MjAwMCJdXQ/gauguintahitianwoman.jpg?sha=db1dc165bf7c20a7

(7)http://www.simondickinson.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/GAUGUIN-Changement-R.jpg

(8)http://1uyxqn3lzdsa2ytyzj1asxmmmpt.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Gauguin-Crouching-Tahitian-Woman-recto.jpg