Susan, half - face and Rose Drapery Despite all the vagaries of the modern art scene, the notion that draughtsmanship is the foundation of all good painting has never quite been abandoned. Good draughtsmanship is not simply about accurate representation - any halfway decent student in any halfway decent art school can achieve that - it is about developing the discipline to respond fluently and spontaneously to what you see before you. What characterised Anthony Christian’s drawings from a remarkably early age was not only an accurate eye, but a confident subtle line, delicate and yet powerful. Comparison with the drawings of Michelangelo and Leonardo are not out of place. Christian consciously modelled his drawing on theirs, sometimes copying actual drawings - like Leonardo’s Battle of Angiari study - with phenomenal verve and accuracy. More importantly he absorbed their dynamism and economy, together with their sense that a drawing is not simply a sketch or study for something bigger but a work of art in itself. Today Christian employs all kinds of medium, charcoal, sanguine, ink, and achieves a wide range of effects to suit his different subjects. His great tree drawings have a wonderful wiry vitality, his nudes a supple sensuality; while with his portrait heads and drapery studies he achieves an extraordinary sculptural quality in the modelling by the use of shading and highlights. In Christian’s drawings you find the key to his mastery of other forms. They are not a sideline; they are the heart and soul of his work. REGGIE OLIVER http://www.blackcathedral.co.uk/ right click to open in a new window
