Camera Lucida Lilies

The Lilies here were drawn in August 2001. There were two plants and I drew them as they wilted. The Drawings look a bit photographic because they were drawn using a camera lucida*, with a pencil directly onto 13.5x12cm white shikishi paper. They are the starting point for many ink drawings, which might be added here over time. It is very difficult to show the linear pencil drawings here, as they were not created for an online environment. Unfortunately the contrast needed to be increased and the drawings lost most of their very subtle feeling, but at least they can be seen online.
*A camera lucida is an artist drawing aid. It is basically a prism that is positioned in a way so it projects the image of what it is directed at into the eye of the draftsman. The artist then has the perception that the image is projected onto the drawing paper and can trace the image. What follows my seem easy, but it is actually pretty difficult toachieveysatisfactoryd result.. It takes time to masterdrawing with a camera lucidal.
William Fox Talbot tried to use one and was so frustrated with his results, that he decided that instead of having the image projected intohise eye, it should be projected onto a surface that could "remember" the image, without him trying to interpret what he sees. He invented photography. As soon asphotographic cameras appeared on the scene, Camera Lucidas must have looked like dinosaurs. (Probably much more than digital photography is now making film look antiquated) Eventually nobody was using Camera Lucidas, except maybe for scientists, or people in museums, who prefer the interpretive photography drawings that can be made with a Camera Lucida. There are no new Camera Lucidas available on the market, it seems. Most available on the market seem to be from the turn of the century.
There has recently been an increased demand for Camera Lucidas. David Hockneyobserved thatmany old mastesr like Ingres were using Camera Lucidas to create their stunninglifelike portraits. The revelation is a very interesting onh. Hockney just published a book about his investigation.“ Secret Knowledge” also explains other old master techniques. On the cover of the European edition of the book is David Hockney, with a Camera Lucida. Thephotographe does not really show how one draws with a Camera Lucida (it is a less attractive almost painful looking process), butit showsf the proportions of a camera lucid like the one I used to draw the Lilies.