Exhibition Gallery Guide: The Past is Present: Metalpoint Drawings by Dennis Angel

metalpoint Drawings by dennis angel

August 25 through

December 12 FALL 2015 Gallery guide

It was the early 1980s, abstraction’s popularity was waning and the figure was returning to the mainstream art world. Gestural and fluid painting was current, and precisionism was out. References to a high level of craftsmanship were rejected.

Neo-Expressionism was in. Dennis Angel, an undergraduate studio major with an interest in 16th and 17th century portrait painting, felt like an outsider. Very few artists, especially students, took an interest in the sensibilities of Northern European masters like Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein. No one was teaching these earlier concepts, styles or techniques of painting and drawing.

Angel was attending the University of Oklahoma, Norman, when he was producing highly detailed graphite portraits on paper. A drawing professor suggested that he experiment with silverpoint, one of several tonal variations of metalpoint drawing.

With only a vague knowledge of the medium from his art history courses, Angel pursued the endeavor and purchased clay coated paper and a silver stylus. His first exploration of this historic medium resulted in a final project that featured a series of five large portraits of fellow art students.

Pleased with the experimentation, he felt that working in silverpoint made a statement about who he was, his personal aesthetics, and a connection to the past.

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1985, Angel attended Indiana University, Bloomington, where he received his MFA in 1988. Indiana University faculty followed the trend of many other art schools in which NeoExpressionist figural representation remained prominent. Painting and graphite drawing were emphasized in 2-D studio classes, but not the Josh, 1984. Silverpoint on clay coated paper. 36 x 24 inches.

Collection of Dennis Angel.

style that spoke to Angel’s sensibilities. More or less forced to follow suit, Angel reluctantly moved away from metalpoint to focus on painting and graphite drawings.

Over the next two decades Angel devoted his time to painting and teaching. His first appointment was a three-year position (1988-1991) as an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In 1991, he moved to Las Vegas where he taught as adjunct faculty at the University of Nevada before taking a two-year hiatus from 1995-1996. By 1997, Angel was back in academia where he continues to teach as a full Professor at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

In 2009, Angel was creating large, decorative figural pieces on wood with gouache and gold leaf. Though he was quite productive and his works sold quite well, he no longer found the work satisfying. He had found a niche; however, that sphere felt constrained by the churning out of works that were pleasing to audiences but no longer engaging for himself. Something was missing. He took a brief sabbatical from his teaching position at the Community College to take a breath and find himself again. He needed to rekindle the joy that he felt in making images that meant something personally.

Looking back to the past, he reviewed his earlier still life drawings in charcoal and graphite completed while at the University of Oklahoma. Angel rediscovered his brief foray in metalpoint. His love for the sensibilities of Dürer and Holbein was subsequently rekindled. These masters had never departed; they were simply put on the back burner for the creation of works that provided a livelihood. It had been more than twenty years since his last exploration of silverpoint, but he trusted his instincts and returned to his earlier work.

The question he confronted - how to combine his interest in still life drawings with metalpoint. What context would bridge the past with the present?

Angel’s work with still life proved to be a challenge.

The difficulty was in finding the right materials to represent. Nothing seemed to satisfy the shapes he sought for his work. Just as he returned to the past for a new direction, he looked at old still lifes for inspiration. Introducing the richness of 17th century Dutch still lifes in a 21st century context proved to be an arduous task. With knowledge of the Dutch masters, including Pieter Claesz, Willem Kalf and Adriaen van Utrecht, Angel began looking at

China, 2009. Mixed media on wood panel. 48 x 60 inches.

Collection of Dennis Angel.

contemporary painters including Janet Fish, Wayne Thiebaud, Giorgio Morandi and William Bailey.

It was the latter two who captured his attention.

In Morandi, Angel speaks of how the artist was able to “elevate simple bottles and vessels into something poetic.” In Bailey’s paintings there was “a type of silence that I found very interesting. I tried some setups using simple bottles and vases but it still wasn’t right.”

Giorgio Morandi. Natura morta (still life). 1946. Oil on canvas.

14 3/4 x 18 inches. Collection of the Tate Museum, London. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/morandi-still-life-n05782.

July 17, 2015.

During a visit to a local Home Depot store in Las Vegas for a home improvement project, Angel found himself standing in an aisle surrounded by PVC pipes. “This is it! These are the objects!” He recollects that he “was like a kid in the candy store. I filled my cart with an assortment of pipes and industrial objects and spent the rest of the day in my studio, stacking and arranging them.” The questions that drove his energetic work were how to elevate the PVC parts through his technique, and how to encourage “the viewer to reexamine how we assign beauty and significance to objects.”

It was an important day of working with PVC pipes and vents on a tabletop in his studio,

one of his large-scale renderings can take upwards of 50-60 hours to complete. The stillness of the material complements Angel’s interest in “perceptual or observational drawing” and how “optical experiences are translated through the drawing process.” Unlike working from a 2-D object such as a photograph, which is reflective of a single viewpoint, Angel recognizes that the “still life allows the artist to see from many views, moving around to see shadows and controlling light....No matter how ‘real’ the drawing may look, it is an abstraction or a symbol of the object or space being observed.”

Still Life #1, 2010. Charcoal on rag paper. 44 x 29 inches.

Collection of Dennis Angel.

much like a stage. “Objects are like a cast of characters - an ensemble.” His goal was to make a drawing - one day - one session of charcoal drawing. The first was a landmark drawing for Angel. It was the beginning of something new, but the drawings lacked the precision and detail he desired. He thought, “What if I take cheap mundane objects and render them in a historical process, like Morandi?” This was the moment when metalpoint was reintroduced. “In the way that Morandi transformed his bottles with paint I hope to do something similar with these industrial objects and the metalpoint process.”

Through continual reworking of the still life, the assemblage began to take on a sculptural quality.

The stark white patina enhanced the unique shapes and surface of the PVC pieces. Shadows that fell over the objects provided a range of gray tones that could be achieved in great detail through metalpoint. Soon, he began introducing other materials that offered diverse contours, lighting effects, shadows and reflections, such as glass, eggs, string, metal hinges, shells, paper and cinder blocks.

The still life is well suited to metalpoint drawings due to the time required to complete a work.

Metalpoint is a painstaking process with little room for error. It is an unforgiving process that is difficult to correct or erase. Setting up stationary objects with a fixed light source allows Angel to work for hours without the worry of environmental changes or the movement of a model. For example,

When asked what are the hardest aspects of creating his specific compositions in metalpoint, Angel reflected, “The most difficult part of the compositions are the actual set ups. I really struggle with this stage of the process and sometimes it will take multiple studio sessions before I actually begin the drawing.” Angel resolves the compositional arrangements by continually manipulating the orientation and positions of the material, in addition to controlling the lighting. “I think that part of my struggle with the setups is that there is a built in type of pressure, knowing that I will work on any given drawing for over 50 hours.” His early still life metalpoint drawings were limited to industrial materials with the introduction of one or two organic objects. These compositions are generally symmetrical. His recent drawings have become more “open ended in terms of choice of objects and arrangements.”

Because metalpoint drawing is so unforgiving, Angel finds it necessary to first produce preparatory drawings. Whereas his predecessors in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance used silverpoint primarily for underdrawings and studies, Angel produces the first stage of his work in graphite on mylar. The heavily worked drawings initially help the artist resolve compositional challenges.

Second, the drawings note the core shapes of the various objects in each still life assemblage.

This becomes the underdrawing that is placed on a light table below the prepared paper for the metalpoint drawing. The graphite on mylar underdrawing shows through the prepared paper, serving as his guide.

Angel considers the scale of his works one of the essential aspects to work out before attempting the preparatory drawing. Though the larger works are always more time intensive, size can have a significant impact on the “visual statement, like a Jim Dine. Scale is made more substantial to stand on its own.” Historically, metalpoint drawings are generally small. Angel also believes that the larger size allows “the work to feel more contemporary.”

Large works, however, can be restrictive to the production of metalpoint drawings based on the factor of time. The labor-intensive characteristics of the medium often dictated the scale, as known from the 15th and 16th century examples. During these earlier times, metalpoint drawings were commonly produced either as training tools or studies in preparation for a painting. There are

Left to right: Nautilus Shell, 2012. Graphite on Mylar. 20 x 16 inches. Nautilus Shell, 2012. Silver and 24K gold on tinted paper. 20 x 16 inches.

Collection of Dennis Angel.

examples of metalpoint drawings that stand on their own as completed works, though these drawings typically date to the 16th and 17th centuries.

The materials Angel uses today have little difference from those used five centuries ago. One important exception is the pre-primed paper for those who prefer the convenience of a ready-to-draw surface.

Angel previously purchased prepared paper for his portrait project at the University of Oklahoma.

Today, Angel prefers to prepare his ground using prepackaged recipes. The ground is a fine grit or toothy layer, hardly visible to the eye, which creates an abrasive surface onto which the metal stylus makes a mark. Metal shavings literally scrape off of the stylus as it is dragged across the micro fine, sandpaper-like, prepared surface. By applying the ground to the paper himself, he is able to control the toothy texture to his preference. Historical methods for preparing paper for metalpoint drawing included powdered roasted animal bone mixed with saliva or animal derived glue as a binder. Today, chalk, pumice, silica and kaolin are commonly mixed with gum arabic.

In preparing the paper and the ground, Angel uses Arches hotpress watercolor paper with a smooth surface. The ground is a premixed packaged recipe purchased from the Golden Paint Company.

White is his prefered tonal ground. Typically, one coat of the ground applied with an oxhair brush will coat the paper surface. The velvety texture of the brush leaves no marks resulting in a smooth surface devoid of brushstrokes that could disrupt the flow of the metalpoint lines.

Leonardo da Vinci. Head of a Girl, ca. 1483. Silverpoint and white highlights on prepared paper. 71 1/4 x 62 1/2 inches. Collection of Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy. http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=186. July 17, 2015.

Mirari, 2013. Silver, 24K gold and copper on tinted paper.

24 x 12 inches. Collection of Dennis Angel.

Tauten, 2011. Silver, 24K gold and copper on tinted paper.

30 x 22 inches. Collection of Dennis Angel.

Angel says that his choice of tone for the ground is “Mostly intuitive. Once I’ve completed the still life set up, a certain hue or tint will come to mind. I’m not sure why but certain arrangements ask for a particular color while others seem to invite a simple white ground. Producing a red or green ground requires mixing colored dry pigments. When a color is used, I’m careful to mix the intensity of the color down so that it doesn’t overpower the delicacy of the metalpoint surfaces.” For example, a red tone is used for Mirari, while Nautilus Shell is enhanced by a yellow hue.

light black, while copper oxidizes to a soft green.

Gold and platinum are hard metals that do not tarnish, thus the patina does not change. Angel prefers to use silver, gold and copper. Historically, lead was a popular metalpoint stylus but has been removed from general use due to high levels of toxicity. Each metal also has particular effects for lighter or darker shading. “Finding a very hard gold was of great help because it gives me great control with the very light tones, almost like using a very hard graphite pencil.” Silver was and continues to be the most utilized metal.

A secondary consideration for the tone of each work is Angel’s knowledge of how each metal oxidizes.

In the early stages of his work in metalpoint the oxidation process was disconcerting. “Even though I knew it was a component of the process I wasn’t prepared for the visual effects. I remember that I had finished the drawing Tauten and had put it away for a few months. When I was going through some drawings it had very suddenly shifted in color...To see a drawing having gone through this transformation on its own, just after I had recently worked on it was very odd.” Now that Angel understands the oxidation process, it is easier for him to predict the changes and consider the outcome when creating the drawing. Silver, for example, turns to a warm brown, brass becomes

Regarding his use of a predominantly monochromatic medium, Angel explains, “Because we see the world in color, any black and white image becomes removed from reality, having in it a built in symbolic component. I like the way an image with none or very little color removes it from reality or how we see the world around us.” Curious about the introduction of color, Angel experimented with the addition of colored pencil over metalpoint. The results were less than satisfactory. He felt that the addition of pigment “destroys the luminosity and subtleties” of the metal lines. He subsequently produced a series of still life drawings using color pencils.

Drawing in metalpoint has great benefits and even greater limitations. Most important to Angel’s

style is the “detail and precision that metalpoint allows. There is also a very subtle luminosity to a metalpoint drawing that separates it from graphite or charcoal. Raking metal over paper to create tone...I’m polishing the paper with the stylus.” It is a unique process to draw with a piece of metal, in which fragments are left behind when the stylus is dragged across the primed paper. He explains that “...when sanded, [the paper] almost has an eggshell like texture. When the sharpened metal stylus is worked over the paper and layered over time you can feel the paper being burnished or almost polished. It is quite a beautiful sensation.”

In consideration of the limitations, Angel describes the medium as “Unforgiving. It is very difficult to make changes, so erasing can only be done by sanding the ground that has been applied to the paper. However when one does this, the surface of the paper is slightly altered so it is difficult to work with. If one is working with tone as I do, it’s also very labor intensive so it requires great patience.”

He expected the technical aspect to be demanding, but was not prepared for the extensive amount of time to produce these large-scale drawings.

“When I first began this body of work, I remember when I was working on a larger drawing it felt like [I] was literally crawling down one shadow for over a week. Every day I would return to my studio and I began to wonder what had I gotten myself [into]? Could I continue to do this?” In order to succeed with the medium Angel had to come to terms with the fact that each drawing would take a long time to complete. Patience is more than just a proverbial notion of undertaking a challenging task. In terms of metalpoint drawing, it is a necessity. When working on one specific area containing multiple tones becomes burdensome, he moves to “an easier area to be produced in one tone.” This is the benefit of a still life. Nothing moves except for the artist’s view of the assemblage.

Albrecht Dürer. A Dog Resting, 1520. Silverpoint drawing. 4 7/8 x 6 7/8 inches. British Museum, London. http://omeka.wustl.edu/ omeka/ exhibits/show/durernatureworks/animals. July 17, 2015

Shells with Pipes, 2013. Silver and 24K gold on tinted paper. 20 x 16 inches. Collection of Dennis Angel.

Previously, it was mentioned that metalpoint was used primarily for underdrawings and studies.

Later examples constituted completed works.

Those completed works are typically portraits and figure drawings, as well as animal and botanical renderings. The creation of a completed still life in metalpoint was rare. In this respect, Angel is able to create something new, something present, while connecting with the past. Consistent with works of the great masters is the attention to detail and the realistic representation of the subject.

Angel takes metalpoint to another level when he creates hyper-realistic drawings. He explains that, “Metalpoint invites detail and precision. I think that for the artist, ‘style’ is in many ways a matter of temperament. As an art student I experimented with many approaches both in painting and drawing. After one sees the options

available, then choices are made. I’ve chosen a very hyper-realistic style partly because it feels innately ‘right’ for me...I also like the hyper-realistic style as it invites close examination and scrutiny.

I like the demands that this places on the viewer.

Metalpoint drawings invite the viewer to be drawn [in to] look...As I’m developing a surface or texture, there are times where I edit or leave out what I feel is unnecessary.”

Angel’s compositions are based on a grid system, which provides a balanced structure. The tightly cropped, frontal view creates a stable and still image. There is no movement to allow the eye to travel out of the picture. “I tend to arrange most of my setups where the front plane is parallel to my field of vision...or the viewer’s field of vision.”

This creates a “dominance of strong vertical and horizontal plane[s]...When diagonals are used

they are mostly used to imply depth or to move the viewer’s eye through the composition. But the underlying structure is almost always based on the grid. Also, I think that the frontal view creates more of a stark confrontation between the setup and the viewer.”

In several works, Angel places words in the frontal plane to give “another way for the viewer to enter the work visually.” The inclusion of the words is the last element of the work and is his response to the totality of the image. “The first image I introduced a word in was Ovolo. As I was developing the drawing the word ‘oval’ (because of all of the ellipses in the pipes and bowl) came to mind. And then there were the eggs and I thought of ‘ovum.’” He turned to a dictionary in search of the right word to connect oval and ovum. There he found the term ‘ovolo.’ “It means a type of tubular molding used in architecture. It made sense. Sometimes it’s a play on a word. I found the word Mirari by looking up ‘mirror’ in the dictionary. Mirari means to reflect (Greek or Latin) and since I was using a reflective metal surface behind the block it made sense. I also liked the idea of ‘to reflect’ from a

more cerebral perspective.” The words placed in the front of several still lifes give “the visual effect of the letters being on the plane closest to the viewer and serving as a type of pedestal, a structure or support for the tabletop surface.” The words function as a continuation of his intellectual relationship with the composition and its various elements. They help provide a deeper meaning to his complex drawings. Interestingly, the words are separate from the picture plane as a result of the flat, vertical orientation that gives no illusion of depth consistent with the rendering of the still life.

After five or six years of creating his still life metalpoint drawings, Angel became aware that he had been working in a tightly confined box with a shallow depth of field. All of his still life arrangements had been constructed within 2x2 square foot space with twelve inches of depth.

“I wanted to expand this space but instead of constructing an actual deep space I thought it might be interesting to work within that same cube box to imply a deeper space.” He also introduced prints of paintings from other artists, including Charles Sheeler and Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola), as background elements.

Angel views these prints as “a window behind the setup.” Incorporating these prints provided Angel with a means to convey his connection to these painters on an aesthetic and an intellectual level.

“For instance, as I was developing the Sheeler image I was thinking, ‘I don’t need to stack any pipes in this image because Sheeler has already done it for me.’ Likewise with the Leonardo image I didn’t need to carefully arrange the folds of cloth against the wall. Leonardo’s beautiful drapery study supplanted that need. So the prints allowed me to work more minimally with the other objects.”

The inclusion of the background image in Rocks, Glass and Sheeler gave Angel an opportunity to express his admiration for the Realist painter and to comment on the influence Sheeler had on the development of the metalpoint drawing.

Top to bottom: Ovolo and detail, 2011. Silver and 24K gold on tinted paper.

20 x 16 inches. Collection of Dennis Angel.

Rocks, Glass and Sheeler, 2014. Silver, 12K and 24K gold on primed paper.

22 x 13 inches. Collection of Dennis Angel.

For Leonardo the connection was more apparent.

Here, was “another artist who commonly used the metal point process centuries ago.”

When reflecting on the fact that he is working with a medium used by “some of the great draftsmen of the past,” Angel considers the origins of the medium. As a practicing artist, he acknowledges his predecessors who promoted the process to a high art form. Though Leonardo, Raphael, Dürer, Michelangelo and others are some of the most prominent names in the history of metalpoint drawing, the process extends several centuries earlier. In fact, metal as a mark-making implement that leaves deposits on a writing surface appeared around the turn of the 8th century. The traditional technique of metalpoint drawing was commonly used in the Middle Ages for preparatory and underdrawings used in the creation of illuminated manuscripts.

One of the earliest examples is the famed Lindisfarne Gospels dating ca. 700 CE. The artist responsible for this manuscript used leadpoint for the drawing of faint lines to delineate shapes that were later inpainted. What makes the metal deposits adhere to the drawing surface is the application of a ground. This prepared surface was also very suitable for the application of painting and the burnishing of gold leaf commonly used in

illuminated manuscripts. The use of metalpoint continued for preparatory and underdrawings in the production of manuscripts over the next several centuries. Other important examples include the Utrecht Psalter (9th century), and works produced by Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century) and Hildegard von Bingen (13th century).

By the late 14th century, Italian artist Cennino Cennini devoted significant attention to studying the properties of metalpoint and its application.

He was the first to write a treatise on the use of metalpoint, with an emphasis on educating apprentices. In his noted Il Libro dell’arte, written circa 1400, Cennini expressed his opinion that a student should begin learning metalpoint drawing on wood, followed by drawing on parchment or paper. Perhaps, he recognized the unforgiving challenges of metalpoint and understood that a command of the medium would enable an apprentice to excel in any form of drawing. Like so many of his contemporaries, and successors, drawing was a skill paramount to becoming an accomplished painter. In addition to discussing the properties of drawing in metalpoint, Cennini also explained the process of preparing the ground.

Cennini’s Il Libro dell’arte served as an important publication in promoting metalpoint and elevating the medium to a higher status. By the 15th century, the delicate, fine line making properties used for underdrawings and studies eventually were incorporated in the production of masterful drawings in completed states. Silverpoint achieved its greatest utilization and appreciation during the Renaissance as observed in works by Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Dürer, among others.

These artists used metalpoint for drawing studies to work through compositions or for the underdrawings in preparation for paintings. Some artists used the metalpoint technique to produce finished drawings that are recognized as impressive works in their own right.

The technique saw continued use in the Baroque period as employed in numerous works by Hendrick Goltzius, Rembrandt van Rijn and Peter Paul Rubens. By the end of the 17th century, metalpoint began to fall out of favor when artists increasingly explored the versatility and profitability of intaglio processes, including etching, engraving and drypoint. Intaglio could produce hundreds of copies of an image, whereas the metalpoint process produces only one original work. Metalpoint was used less frequently in the 18th century. It was in

late-19th century Europe that metalpoint saw a revival, primarily in French and English progressive art schools where drawing was revered. The process did not receive critical attention in the United States until the mid-20th century. Abstract Expressionist Frank Stella helped introduce the medium to American artists and audiences.

However, the medium never received the same degree of attention given by Europeans.

Lindisfarne Gospels, ca. 700 CE. Silverpoint and tempera on vellum.

13 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches. British Library, London. http://www.bl.uk/ onlinegallery/sacredtexts/lindisfarne_lg.html. July 17, 2015

Metalpoint is not commonly used today. Angel explains that some view the process “as an antiquated technique.” As fewer artists are focusing on detailed realism, there is less need to be proficient in a high degree of drawing skill.

There is also the issue that a “lack of immediacy is contrary to our culture and artist’s sensibilities.

Through technology we’ve become accustomed to instant imagery and the notion of building a drawing up over a great deal of time can be problematic.”

Nonetheless, the art world has recently experienced a resurging interest in metalpoint from historians and museum audiences. In 2015, several international exhibitions were mounted. In May, Drawing with Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, in association with the British Museum in London.

Concurrently, the Art Students League in New York City hosted The Silverpoint Exhibition, celebrating works created by students at the League since 1948. Drawing with Silver and Gold is an important catalyst for revitalizing interest in the process.

Hopefully, the exhibition will serve as an important educational tool for artists and viewers alike who wish to explore the historic nature of the medium.

In his own way, Angel is also actively promoting the medium. First, by execution of the works; second, by offering audiences an opportunity to view the fine handling of the historic medium, and to see it in a unique and fresh form.

The medium is unforgiving. The process is time consuming. However, the results are illuminating and delicate. For Dennis Angel, this small series of metalpoint drawings represents a major body of work. Thirty years in the making, Angel has come full circle from his first exploration of the medium to the mastery of its possibilities. It is a body of work that filled a personal void and suited a temperamewnt for precision. By rendering mundane, utilitarian objects and effectively making modern works of art, Angel illustrates how the past is ever present.

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669); Saskia van Uylenburg; Silverpoint on paper. 7 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches; Collection of the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin. http://drawingacademy.com/drawing-lessons/drawing-the-human-body.

July 17, 2015

Direct quotations from the artist are taken from various written communications beginning Fall 2014, and telephone conversations on February 17, 2015 and May 21, 2015.

Art Museum Staff Robert S. Wicks, Ph.D. Director Jason E. Shaiman Curator of Exhibitions Cynthia Collins Curator of Education Mark DeGennaro Preparator/Operations Manager Sherri Krazl Marketing/Communications Laura Stewart Collections Manager/Registrar Debbie Caudill Program Assistant Sue Gambrell Program Coordinator All exhibition graphics for The Past is Present: Metalpoint Drawings by Dennis Angel were designed by Morgan Murray, Graphic Design student at Miami University

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