Titian

Massacre of the Innocents

Titian, Circle of

1585-1600

Charcoal, heightened with touches of white chalk, on gray laid paper.

While contemporary drawing responds to a broad, 'boundry-busting' remit it is essential to remember that critical development also needs to be applied to drawings clearly within those boundaries. Titian's drawings are both little known and rare. For him they were a means to an end. Perhaps we should lament this lack of self-consciousness from an artist such as Titian who touched the surface of his paper in order to investigate an elusive world just beyond his reach. For him, drawing embodied knowledge not style. (Anita Taylor, Writing on Drawing: Essays on Drawing Practice and Research, p.11. 2008

This quote is from the introduction of the book Writing on Drawing, a book that primarily concerns itself with drawing from an educational perspective. I like the question posed in this passage: how "finished" can a drawing be before it loses the immediacy paramount to the notion of drawing. It is an important question to ask before approaching the medium. Either to dismiss it entirely or endorse it whole heartedly or respect the point between.