Untitled, (back) by Joseph Mann
- Title: Untitled, (back)
- Artist: Joseph Mann
- Medium: Graphite
- Size: 7"h x 5"w
- Added to collection: 2019
- Donor: Gift of Mark Andres
- Campus: Rock Creek
- Location: B3/2 Drawing gallery rm 228
One can learn to read a drawing by paying close attention to the decisions made by the artist's hand at each form. Â Observe how the back of the neck and the shoulder muscles are more forcefully contoured than the shoulders themselves. Â This not only charges the drawing with a sense of volume and palpability, but shows an awareness of how perception of forms in the periphery differ from those in direct vision. Â The side of the face is boldly delineated but the top of the head vanishes into a mist. Sleepier artists would delineate these things mechanically and equally to give the drawing a more conventionally finished look, but they would flatten it in the process. Put another way, this drawing feels less like a description of a woman's back than the experience of looking at a woman's back. Mann, who has taught drawing and painting for many years, once memorably told his students: "If you do not approach the model with humility, you will be humbled."