Published in TRACEY | journal
Syntax of Mark and Gesture
August 2013
Drawing and Visualisation Research
DRAWING THE INTERACTIVE
EMOTIONAL RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN ARTIST, SUBJECT
AND AUDIENCE.
Jan Keene a
Norwich University of the Arts
[email protected]
jAffiliation, Email]
a
This report explores how both Phenomenological approaches to
subjective social interaction and Positivist approaches to the
embodiment of emotion, can be applied to the interaction between artist,
subject and audience, to enable a greater understanding of emotion in
the process of drawing.
The paper shows how drawing can be developed from classical and
expressionist traditions to be part of an interactive relationship rather
than a means of voyeuristic objectification or personal expression;
examines phenomenological approaches to the social construction of this
interactive reality between an artist, subject and audience, focusing on
proactive construction of social reality amongst individuals in these
relationships; and considers how emotion and empathy might fit with
conceptualisations of socially constructed interactive relationships.
The paper proposes that the process of drawing could be part of a shared
emotional interaction which can be understood as embodied emotional
experience shared in interactive relationships between artist, subject and
audience in which the artist recognises, emulates and communicates
emotion.
www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/
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TRACEY | journal: Syntax of Mark and Gesture
PART ONE
Developing drawing in the context of traditional beliefs.
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The contemporary art focus on drawing has developed slowly over the past twenty years,
highlighted by events such as the National Gallery conference “ What makes a good
drawing?” in March 2012and the Tate Liverpool exhibition “ “Tracing the Century” (Jan
2013.) Texts such as “Vitamin D, New Perspectives in Drawing” review modern drawings
and conclude that “the current resurgence of drawing in recent years is perhaps the first
moment history when artists can opt for drawing as their principle medium.” (Dexter, 2005,
p1)
Many writers however admit that it is not possible to understand the process of drawing
fully,
Berger (2010) saying it “approaches something which is eloquent, but which we cannot
altogether understand” (Berger 2010:80) and Dexter (2005) also points to this “inherently
miraculous” quality of drawing, saying that Leonardo believed it to be a manifestation of
the divine and she cites the Italian renaissance word “disegno” meaning the act of bodying
forth the creative idea, using line.(Dexter 2005:7)
In essence contemporary theory has highlighted the mysteries of drawing, those aspects
that have not yet been pinned down, explored or explained. This section will examine how
contemporary artists have attempted to build on the traditions of classical representation
and emotional expressionism in order to develop a post-contemporary approach.
THE CLASSICAL POSITIVIST APPROACH
The classical positivist approach before the 20th Century is best exemplified by the notion
of objective, even absolute, universal values for art. This approach has been recently
revived among some 21st Century artists who focus on drawing (Hoptman, 2002, Kovats,
2005.) For example, Craig-Martin (1995) attempts to demonstrate that drawing is the best
means for understanding art through history and the universal essence of art. He argues
that “the values of good line drawing are consistent across time and place in a way that
painting and sculpture are not” (Craig-Martin 1995:9.) These classical positivist ideas
about the universality and timelessness of drawing are reflected in the writing of
Mondadori (1989) who writes of “the universal skill of (the) linear” (Mondadori, 1989:9.)
Hoptman (2002) also argues that these universal qualities have also not changed in the
last century, despite Richard Serra’s assertion in 1994, that drawing had changed so much
that it should be understood as a noun. Hoptman states that drawing is understood today,
as it has always been, as a verb. Kovats (2005) agrees that these essential qualities of
drawing are understood today as they always were, but states that there was a period
where they were forgotten in the 20th Century. She argues that consequently, the
traditional skills of drawing have been re-instated at the turn of this century and are now as
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important today as they have always been. She suggests that “this .... could be perceived
as a reaction against modernist and post-modernist attempts to undermine these aspects
of art making “(Kovats, 2005:16.)
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One important difference between classical and contemporary drawing, however, is that
contemporary drawing has involved many more female artists. These have attempted to
highlight differences between the traditional classical “male gaze” where the model is seen
as an object and the contemporary female gaze which may be more likely to encompass
emotional empathy (Steiner, 2010.) Examples reactions to the “male gaze” are best
illustrated by the work of Vanessa Beecroft , Dawn Mellor, Ghada Amer and Cindy
Sherman. In contrast, Pollack (1980) cites the work of Mary Cassat to illustrate how a
woman’s art differs, saying that the subjects in Cassat’s work after often emotionally
absorbed in each other. Helen Chadwick (1985) feels that artists are only now beginning to
develop a female language. Rose Garrard in conversation with Marion Roberts (of
Birmingham Post 1984, (http://www.rosegerrard.com/vaso_di_pandora accessed
13/11/2012). In my own work, the life size drawing (Fig 1) attempts to empathise with the
models and draw what they themselves are feeling rather than what I, as the artist, feel
about them.
FIG 1. “TWO WOMEN SITTING TOGETHER” KEENE (2013)
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Wendy Steiner (2010) develops this further when she examines the role of the subject or
model in the context of contemporary meaning of the model, and compares the Feminist
approach of Susan Sontag (2004) who sees the model/artist relationship as an obstacle to
empathy, to that of Bram (1995) who sees “modelling as an interaction among parties
involved in artistic creation and communication.” Steiner utilises the ideas of Bram (1995)
in his novel, “Gods and Monsters” in order to explain how the model and artist affect each
other “and in doing so come to a new understanding of themselves in this process and
viewers respond to and perhaps emulate the interaction encoded in the work” (Steiner
2010: 3).
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It is suggested that whilst this new approach to the relationship between artist, model and
audience has been initiated by a political feminist approach, that it could have broader
implications in developing a post-contemporary change in classical representative drawing
as a whole.
Whilst much of drawing remains unchanged, the relationship between artist and subject
may be changing to enable new reciprocal interactive interpretations of artist and subject.
In order to understand this changing interpretation of the relationship it is necessary to
examine the role of emotion within it. The place of emotion in art changed with the advent
of abstract expressionism, in order to understand the place of emotion in art history it is
therefore necessary to go beyond classical representation of emotion to Abstract
Expressionism.
THE MODERNIST EXPRESSIONIST APPROACH
The emotion of the abstract expressionists will be examined in order to see if traditional
models of personal emotional expression can also be useful in developing new models of
emotional interaction.
Whilst the classical artist saw their subject only as an object, the abstract expressionist
saw only their own emotion. In the mid twentieth century Abstract Expressionists believed
that people had natural internal emotional rhythms which were not necessarily a response
to anything or anyone. Instead, these feeling came from a sub-conscious self-absorption
which involved autonomous personal expression rather than communication or any kind of
interaction (Weintraub, 2003.) However this movement led to great developments in the
understanding of emotion in art and how drawing or painting can be conceived of as
emotional expression rather than objective representation.
Abstract Expressionists believe that the drawn line leaves a trace of each individual artist’s
objectively felt emotion. For example Jackson Pollock is seen as drawing his own internal
sense of rhythm, both in his figurative and abstract work, and leaving a trace which
conveys this to the viewer (Krauss 1971). Contemporary artists can also be concerned with
their own unconscious feelings, for example, Avis Newman uses drawing to evoke her own
unconscious emotional life.
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BRINGING TOGETHER EMOTION AND REPRESENTATION (A PRECURSOR TO PORTRAYING
THE EMOTION OF OTHERS ?)
Whilst many artists attempted to express their own fe elings in abstract work, others
attempted to express emotion through representation of others. The coming together of
emotionally expressive drawing and representation is recognised in the art world by many
different writers. For example both Eisler Georg (1977) and Roger Malbet (2001) examine
the history of life drawing throughout 20th Century and conclude that old controversies and
polarisations are less salient than they once were. Malbet talks of the move on from old
controversies about whether figuration or abstraction is best saying that in today’s context,
these “seem now as remote as the cold war” (Malbet 2010:20.)
Attempts to bring together expressive abstract traditions with representative art have led to
conflict over boundaries. Mc Carthy (2005) cites Neo-expressionism and particularly the
1982 “Zeitgeist” exhibition in Germany as an attempt by the art community to restore the
link between figuration and working expressively, stating that Neo-expressionism, “whilst
regressive, was also liberating and inclusive of much that had been previously taboo” (
McCarthy 2005:23.) He sees focussed abstract gestural work as based on a the primacy of
direct observation of a subject as an attempt unlock the subject’s feeling and essence, as
Auerbach or Giacometti have done and suggests that the modernist emphasis on process
has influenced contemporary representative work, “so (in) life drawing ... the image is seen
as an equivalent rather than a copy and is discovered rather than proscribed” (Mccarthy
2005: 25)
In this way, drawing today can be seen as moving back to some extent to the Abstract
Expressionist emphasis on emotion, if not their self-absorption. Dexter describes
contemporary drawing as a return to emotional expression and a move away from
conceptualism (2005). She sees for example the work of Francis Alys as an emotional
narrative (Dexter 2005.) Mosznka (2002) draws on the ideas of Wihem Sasnal when he
argues that individual experience is based on universal emotions. Berger (1974) argues
that all artists are able to access a shared emotional reality, and that in effect their art is a
means of expressing shared emotional experiences, as Bonnard does when he paints his
wife and in so doing “marvellously celebrates a common experience.” (Berger1974:134.)
Many abstract expressionists such as Pollock and Twombly, have completed work which, in
effect brings together emotional expression with depiction of others. Both could be said to
be using line in two ways, firstly as autonomous and self-directed (in an abstract
expressionist sense), and secondly as a contour forming shape (in a classical positivist
sense.) This can be seen as first, line for emotional expression and second, line for
representation. Essentially, there seems to be a natural feeling or rhythm inside people
which can be expressed through gesture together with a natural sense of form in the
external world. In effect these artists were using mark-making to leave a trace of their
natural rhythm to convey how they felt, not only about themselves, but about others. Jenny
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Saville (2003) recognises these two aspects of their work. She writes about the
expressionism and representation of both and how this is emotional expression is similar to
the process of her own representational paintings and drawings.
The question is perhaps how far their expression of emotion in art is concerned with
expression of the artists own emotions and how far it is the artists expression of their
empathy for someone else. I hope in my own work to convey, in both representation and
rhythmic line, how someone else is feeling.
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FIG 2. STUDY OF HEAD 1. (KEENE 2012)
In conclusion it can be seen that the divisions between classical positivist representation
and abstract expressionism can become blurred when representational or semirepresentational drawings have an expressionist or emotional content. If Expressionism
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can be combined with representation it may also be that the emotions of the represented
subject are expressed through the emotional response of the artist when drawing. If so,
this also raises the question of whether an empathetic inter-active drawing process
between artist and subject, could also evoke an empathetic emotional response in the
viewer or audience.
PART TWO
Developing drawing in the context of contemporary philosophies: phenomenology.
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PHENOMENOLOGICAL THEORY OF A REALITY CONSTRUCTED BY INTERACTING GROUPS OF
INDIVIDUALS.
Both Phenomenological approaches to subjective social interaction and Positivist
approaches to the embodiment of emotion can be applied to the interaction between artist,
subject and audience. This section will first consider a Phenomenological approach.
It is suggested that a phenomenological approach to interactive socially constructed
realities, may contribute to the development of contemporary drawing by moving drawing
on from its classical and expressionist traditions to something essentially new, about the
reciprocal, inter-subjective process of artist, subject and audience which moves on from
both classical representation (traditional ways of expressing the subject’s emotion), and
Abstract Expressionism (traditional ways of expressing the artists emotion.)
Steiner (2010) draws on the work of Charles Jenks to critique modernism and consider
where contemporary post-modernism is going. She argues that “The arts are re-defined as
real-world interactions exploring the promise of empathy (and) reciprocity”. In the words of
Jenks, “ a more interactive beauty” (Steiner 2010:2.) Steiner stresses the models identity
as a real person beyond art work. “A real model interacts with a real artist and the resulting
artwork is perceived by a real audience” (Steiner 2010:3) She attempts to move on from
Postmodernism stating, “As the internet and postmodernism mature, as information
gathers and more and more perspectives are added, it is in fact beginning to look like we
are telling a collective story”. (2010:130.)
This “collective story” reflects the importance of “the other” which is integral to the
phenomenological philosophy of Edmund Husserl (1965) and his student Emmannuel
Levinas (Steinfels, 1995), and the importance of social interaction in the philosophy of
relational aesthetics, of Nicholas Bourriaud (2002.) With these approaches it is possible to
consider the artists/subject relationship in a framework of socially constructed, reciprocal,
interactive realities.
Emmanual Levinas, studied phenomenology under Husserl and developed his philosophy
of ethics from these foundations, but for Levinas, ontological questions and recognition of
the “other” became more important than general epistemological questions. He concluded
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that the ethics of responsibility for others came before other philosophical considerations
and believed that subjectivity was not a form of self orientation or self fiction, but that it is
formed through our interaction and subjection to “the other.” (Steinfels, 1995.)
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This philosophy is reflected in Steiner’s belief that there is a social or relational reality
which can be created between the artist, subject and audience. The ideas are also similar
to those which form the foundation for the development of relational aesthetics. Nicholas
Bourriaud, like the philosopher Levinas writes in “Relational Aesthetics” that relational art
includes "a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of
departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an
independent and private space." (2002: 113) Relational Art is seen as producing intersubjective encounters. (2002:18.) If modern aesthetics has moved from aesthetic
objectivism to aesthetic subjectivism and so no longer starts from aesthetics but from the
subject, this is could be seen as an “aesthetics of empathy” (Worringer 1963.)
This type of phenomenological approach is perhaps also close to micro sociological and
social psychological phenomenological models where social reality is understood as an
integral part of the process of interacting with others. For example, the micro model of
Symbolic Interactionism and the Psychological theory of Social Constructivism and Social
representations. (Giddens 2001). In contrast, the Postmodernist political macro theories
which build on the ideas of Macro Sociologists to posit a society of symbols superimposed
on individuals (Foster 1985) where individuals themselves are politically powerless and do
not contribute to the construction of reality in a pro-active way, are less useful for
developing this interpretation. This Postmodernist approach is summarised by Foster
(1985) who argues that subjectivity is constructed socially and that consequently the self is
a social fiction, that to express oneself is, in effect, simply to replicate a social model, he
quotes Barthes “Sincerity is merely a second degree image repertoire.” (Foster, 1985:75.)
Whilst this approach is equally valid, it is perhaps unusual now to polarise macro and micro
theories rather than conceptualising proactive small group constructions of reality within
the broader superstructure of societal norms. It is possible that theories which propose
proactive individuals in an interactive process may be useful in moving art on from
contemporary postmodernism to new ways of understanding social realities, not just as
pale reflections of the symbolic societal structures, but actively created social realities
within ongoing interactive relationships.
IS CONTEMPORARY AND POST- CONTEMPORARY DRAWING PRACTICE MOVING TOWARDS
THE INTERACTION OF THE ARTIST WITH OTHERS?
It is hoped to show how it may be possible to move on from postmodernist political
perspectives in post contemporary drawing. Steiner (2010) expresses this as an attempt,
to begin to form a post-contemporary notion of art as a “communicative interaction”
(2010:.181). Rather than believing in traditional classical notions of universal, absolute
values (which she sees as based on outmoded political value systems), she argues that art
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should be “a value-laden interaction among parties to the aesthetic experience”. (Steiner,
2010:181).
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Mayhew (2007) also examines the potential of life drawing to encounter “the other” in the
model and concludes that life drawing is a way of investigating other human beings.
Mayhew, (2007) and Wallis (2003) both ask what would be gained or lost in a drawing
which views the subject as “another person” with their own emotions, rather than a
voyeuristic object, or expression of the artists personal emotion. These ideas were also
discussed on the Drawing Research Network (2007), where Margaret Mayhew cites the
work of Karen Wallis (2003) to illustrate the “transformational and interpretative
processes” between artist and subject. Wallis questions “what it is that is obscured or left
out in the process of viewing the nude as another person” and she sees drawing as a way
of “tracing that act of spectatorship and recognition.” (Wallis, 2003)
In conclusion, it is possible that phenomenological concepts could inform the notion of the
relationship between artist, subject and audience, by interpreting it as an interactive
process of proactive social construction of reality. However, whilst this type of theory is
necessary to understand interactive relationships and social construction of reality, it is not
sufficient to explain the place of bodily experience or emotion in these relationships and
realities.
Part Three will now examine Positivist approaches to the idea of “embodied emotional
experience” and consider how this experience might be integrated with phenomenological
approaches to the interactive drawing process.
PART THREE
Developing drawing in the context of contemporary philosophies; Positivism.
DRAWING THE EMOTIONAL RELATIONSHIP : RECOGNISING, EMULATING AND EXPRESSING
EMOTION THROUGH LINE.
This section will focus on the Positivist approach and the embodiment of emotion in the
interactive process of drawing. It will examine the artist’s expression of the subject’s
emotional state and the empathetic interactive process between artist, subject and
audience. It will move away from phenomenological interpretations of subjective interactive
processes to focus instead on the embodiment of emotion in this process.
This desire to move on from post-modernist approaches to consider again the body itself, is
reflected in the ideas and exhibitions of some contemporary artists. For example, the
recent “post contemporary” exhibition at the “Centre of Attention” gallery space (December
2012- January 2013), highlights the artists belief that that no matter how far conceptual
artists deconstruct social realities, human beings have physical realities which embody
emotional experience. (houseofodwyer.wordpress.com/tag/centre-of-attention/ Dec.2012.)
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Contemporary Positivism: Neurobiology, Proprioception and mirror neurons.
The section will briefly outline a neurobiological understanding of the sharing and
communication of emotion, through the concept of “mirror neurons” which are seen as
reflecting emotions neurologically, and the concept of Proprioception (the embodiment of
emotion and the felt emulation of physical movement in others). It will be argued that these
concepts may contribute to understanding of the potential of drawing to depict both
movement and emotion in others and enable a reciprocal response.
Traditionally people have believed in empathy. However, it is only recently that the
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scientific evidence for empathy has been discovered and its relevance for drawing
considered.
Wendy Steiner identifies ancient philosophers who believed that empathy was a natural
reciprocal response, from the ancient poet Horace who said “ the human face smiles in
sympathy with smiles” (Steiner 2010: 80) and the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza who
describes the connection between modelling and empathy, in ethics, 3, prop.27 “by the
very fact that we conceive a thing , which is like ourselves... to be affected with any
emotion
,
we
are
ourselves
affected
with
a
like
emotion”
http://www.yesselman.com/e3elwes.htm.
Traditionally people have also believed that drawing was empathetic. It has been
argued that artists are trying to convey compassion and emotion (Pigmatti 1982) and to
evoke both the physical and emotional states “that occurs before rational thinking or
words” (Kovats 2005:15),
However, it only recently that the scientific evidence for empathy has been
discovered in two areas. First, the concept of Proprioception, which refers to the felt
emulation of physical movement and the internal sense of bodily movement in others and
highlights the relevance of motion (movement) in carrying emotion. Second, the notion of
“mirror neurons” which react to other peoples actions as if the perceiver was actually
physically or emotionally experiencing the same feelings as the observed.
Proprioception refers to the embodiment of emotion, that is, the internal sense of one’s
own bodily feelings, particularly in certain postures (or when moving and mark making.) The
theory highlights the felt emulation of physical movement and the internal sense of bodily
movement in others, and the relevance of motion (movement) in carrying emotion.
Mukamel et. al. (2010) have demonstrated that “mirror neurons” discharge when people
perceive or carry out actions, and in effect reflect the actions of others. Their findings
suggest that multiple systems may have neural mechanisms for mirroring both perceptual
and motor aspects of actions performed by others. Iacoboni argues that psychological
models of imitation, mimicry and empathy fit with these findings from the neurosciences.
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He states that studies the evidence from neuroscience demonstrates physiological
mechanisms of mirroring at single-cell and neural-system levels that provide additional
evidence to social psychological research demonstrating that imitation and mimicry
facilitate empathy. He concludes that “Neural mirroring solves the ‘problem of other minds’
(how we can access and understand the minds of others) “and makes intersubjectivity
possible.” Iacoboni (2009:1)
The question is, does this empathy exist in the drawing process ?
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It is suggested that the newly developing filed of neurobiology may contribute to the
traditional understanding of empathy in drawing.
PROPRIOCEPTION AND THE EMBODIMENT OF EMOTION: EMPATHY THROUGH MOTION.
The notion of “proprioperception” exemplifies the importance of physical sensation in
recognizing and evoking emotions, whether those of artists themselves or the subject.
Steiner (1988) examines the “emotional potential locked in the pose,” Juliao Sarmento
draws subjects in different physical positions in order to try and capture how they feel
(Sarmento 2012.) Avis Newman (2010) sees drawing as expressing the feeling of
“ourselves in action.” She quotes Paul Klee “We perceive rhythm with three senses at
once. First we can hear it, secondly we see it, thirdly we feel it in our muscles.” (2010:5)
Whilst Malbet talks of “minimalist aesthetics, in which the emphasis is on the autonomous
line and mark ... and freed from the time lapse between inner impulse and outer reaction
in such a way that the impulse is already an outer reaction” (Malbet 2010:20.)
It is possible that proprioception generates or embodies emotion in both artist and viewer
to enable the artist to emulate the subject’s physical and emotional feelings. If this were
so, the viewer would respond to both the final drawing of the subject and also to the
implicit movements of the artist in the drawn lines themselves. Freedberg and Gallese,
(2007) argue that this is what happens in the drawing process and produces the
“beholders sense of the artisans movement behind the mark” (Freedberg and Gallese,
2007. Contemporary theorists now think this is equally true whether the lines portray a
subject moving or in repose (Jeffers 2010.)
NEUROSCIENCE AND THE “MIRROR NEURONS”: EMPATHY THROUGH PERCEPTION.
Steiner identifies neuroscience as the way forward in drawing because it provides
evidence, in effect giving a “scientific account of empathy” (2010:80). She cites the
neurologist Douglas Hofstadter’s “feedback loop” (Hofstadter, 2008) which explains the
neurophysiology that makes this empathetic response reciprocal, (Steiner, 2010). She
suggests that this “feedback loop” has been suspected for thousands of years, but not
been actually measurable in any concrete way until now.
It has been shown that pictures or drawings affect the emotions and that a range of areas
of the brain will be activated when the viewer looks at sad or happy portraits or faces
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(Sternberg 2001). Drawing has also been shown to activate sensory memories (Steele
1997) and to influence relationships (Siegal 1999).
If drawing can be an integral part of emotional response in a relationship, this could signal
what Wendy Steiner calls “the return to reciprocity” in art. It is suggested that emotion may
be felt, emulated and expressed at different stages in the drawing process. First, the artist
could recognise the subject’s emotion, second, the artist could express this emotion
through the drawing gesture and third, the audience could recognise the emotion in the
line.
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EMPATHY IN THE THREE STAGES OF THE DRAWING PROCESS
It is clear that both writers and artists themselves have difficulty describing and
understanding the drawing process as a whole. In order to try to examine the process
further this overview will be broken down into three stages; the artists recognition of
subjects emotion, the artists expression of subjects emotion and the viewer’s recognition of
subjects emotion. However it will become apparent that each stage is so closely bound up
with the others that this exploration raises more questions than answers.
Drawing as recognition of emotion in others or empathy
Many contemporary artists describe their ability to recognise the emotions in the model as
the essence of their practice. The recent figure drawings of Francis Alys (2010), John
Wragg (2011-2012) convey what the subject is feeling rather than the inner emotional life
of the artist themselves. Similarly the figures of Caroline Walkwer (Christian Flann
(“Realism of the Heart”, 2012) and Moyna Flannigan (“Out of There,” 2012.) convey
through pose and motion the emotions of their subjects. Louis le Brocquy also drew
portraits in order to feel what it felt to be that person, particularly in his series of drawn
heads “Head Images” in the National Gallery of Ireland in 2006. (Hamilton, 2012.) I hope
this can also be seen in my own studies of heads (figs 2 and 3.)
The artists expression of the subjects emotion
Hilary Thorn writing about the International drawing exhibition “Lines of Desire” (1999)
emphasises the role of drawing in expressing the subjects emotion. Shehnoor Ahmed
(1999) cites the intuitive drawing of Amal Gosh and Wing-fai Leung.to illustrate how
drawing “is the desire to express and communicate a feeling” stating that “drawing is
perhaps the most primal form of this” (Ahmed 1999:4). Similarly, Russel Crotty argues for
the immediacy of drawing in expressing this emotion (Kovats 2005: 35.) This is apparently
borne out by evidence from neurioscience research which indicates that people can display
an emotion without being conscious of what induced that emotion ( Damasio (1994)
Perhaps the artist, Alice Neel is most well known for her work alongside abstract painters
(though marginalised at the time because she insisted on focusing on the emotions of the
subject rather than her own feelings). She is now seen as re-invigorating portraiture
through her ability to empathise with the feelings and inner life or “soul” of her subjects,
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such an Andy Warhol and Frank O’Hara, to the extent that she sees herself as a therapist
whose only role is to reflect the selves of others, She states “like Chekhov, I am a collector
of Souls.” (When drawing a portrait) “I have exercised such empathy that I feel as though I
have no self. (it is) a sort of psychological understanding” (Hills 1995: 50.)
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There is however difficulty in distinguishing between the felt emotion of the artists and that
of the subject. This is perhaps in itself an indication that it is difficult for artists themselves
to distinguish between their own emotions and those of the subject. However by attempting
to disengage these steps in the process of drawing, it has become clear that the processes
involved in drawing emotion are perhaps not yet fully understood.
FIG 3 STUDY OF THE FEELINGS OF SUBJECT AND ARTIST (A RELATIONSHIP) (KEENE 2011)
The study of emotion (fig. 3) attempts to move on from simply trying to capture the feelings
of the subject, instead attempting to convey the relationship between artist and subject.
That is, not only attempting to empathise with the subject (and perhaps convey what the
subject feels about the artist) but also to convey what the artist feels about the subject. It is
hoped then, that the viewer will experience the complexity of interacting feelings in the
drawing process.
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The viewer’s recognition of the subjects emotions
Whilst the relationship between artist and model is difficult to disentangle, it is apparent
that this is also true for the relationship between artist and audience. Green (2010) quotes
Bernstein “the search for some reconciliation between the actor and the spectator
continues to be one of the deepest problems of our time (2010:4).
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Berger argues that because drawing is an intimate private activity the viewer will view a
drawing differently to other works of art because he will identify with the artist more, “using
the images to gain the conscious experience of seeing through the artists own eyes”
(Berger 2010:2). This is apparent in the work of Alison Lambert who attempts to convey an
emotional charge to the viewer, in her contemporary figure drawing. Her work, in common
with Jenny Saville, carries a visceral, emotional, feeling to the viewer. (Dyer 2002).
It was argued earlier that proprioception occurred both in the artist and the viewer partly
through the drawn pose, but also through the artists gesture when drawing a line. That is,
that the audience are in effect responding both to the drawn subject and also to the
implicit movements of the artist in the drawn lines themselves. This is apparent in the work
of Lambert and Saville and also illustrated in the work of Leon Golub, particularly the
“Interrogation Series” (1980-81) conveying bullying and torture, where he scrapes
physically at marks in order to leave a drawing that represents pain and brutality. (Dyer
(2005).
Geog Eisler (1977) tries to disentangle this process by focusing on the experience of the
audience and examines the audience’s emotional reaction to a series of different artists.
He cites “A study of nude with cat” (1954) by Balthus, as evoking an immediate emotional
experience in the viewer and Leornard Baskin’s drawing of “watching man” (1975) as
contrasting the tense expression on the subjects face with the passivity of the body in order
to create a feeling of instability and anxiety in the viewer.
This is reflected in my own work where I have drawn large life size improvised doodles
directly onto the wall in situ, with no preparation in order to evoke physical and emotional
feelings through gestural line, referencing the work of both Avis Newman and Helen
Chadwick.
My work “Drawing emotions in motion” (Norwich University of the Arts (NUA), St Georges.
July 2013) attempted to demonstrate that gestural lines create their own rhythm, an undercurrent of physical feelings and emotions beneath the representation itself. These
imaginary “doodles” conveyed absentmindedness in contrast to observation, reversing the
usual relationship between line and representation, as initial abstract lines are followed by
representation of the emotions that the lines themselves evoke, in order to accentuate the
emotional significance of the gestural line itself, rather than the representation.
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TRACEY | journal: Syntax of Mark and Gesture
2013
FIG 4. EMOTIONS IN MOTION, DETAIL ( KEENE 2013)
CONCLUSION
Harrison and Wood (2001) conclude in their summary of 20th century art, that art can and
should be understood within the bounds of up-to-date contemporary thought. This paper
suggests that shared emotional interactions in the drawing process can be understood
within the context of contemporary research in terms of both Phenomenological and
Positivist theory. I am not arguing that either approach is sufficient, but that both may be
necessary, in understanding the place of emotion in interactive socially constructed
realities between artist, model and audience. Positivist neuroscience may be useful in
interpreting the nature of embodied emotional experience which can be shared, and
Phenomenological theories may help explain how these shared emotional interactions are
also shaped by socially constructed realities.
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TRACEY | journal: Syntax of Mark and Gesture
It is proposed that line drawing may be an essential component in this interactive process
of recognising, emulating and conveying emotion, through the artistic gesture.
2013
In summary, although I have cited a range of examples of writers and artists who identify
different parts of the relationship between artist, subject and audience and different stages
in the drawing process, overall; it has been difficult to disentangle what is felt by artist and
what is felt by the subject and audience. This raises a series of further questions about
whether the exchange of emotion can be defined in separate stages, as an affect of only
one individual, or whether it is too convoluted and complex to be reduced in this way. It
may be that the process of drawing reflects the complex emotional reality of a relationships
rather than either the subject’s or the artist’s distinct emotions.
These questions have been explored through analysis of my own practice, where I have
become concerned with the social construction of emotion, through line, in the relationship
between artist, subject and audience. That is, how emotions are recognised, emulated,
expressed and constructed through gestural line drawing and the physical embodiment of
emotion in the context of socially constructed realties. I have drawn on the Positivist
theories of neuroscience and proprioception, to understand the embodiment of emotion
and emulation of physical movement in others, and the Phenomenological theories of
micro-sociology and social psychology, to develop understanding of the process of drawing
in socially constructed emotional realities. In this way I am contextualising the intersubjective exchange identified by Margaret Mayhew and Karen Wallis and examining how
emotion is transferred to the drawing and evoked in the viewer. I hope to have illustrated
through my analysis and drawings how the physical embodiment of emotion can be
conveyed through sensitivity of gestural line and “the movement behind the mark” and
perhaps more significantly, raised the question not only of whether it is possible to draw a
subject in isolation, rather than the artist’s relationship with the subject, but also whether it
is possible to isolate and distinguish your own personal emotion from empathetic
responses to others when drawing emotions from life.
It is not possible to provide answers at this stage, but this paper has raised interesting
questions, not only about what is happening emotionally in the drawing process between
artist and subject, but also about the relationship between the emotions of the artist,
subject and audience and the difficulty of distinguishing one person’s emotions from those
of another in this relationship. It is suggested that this difficulty in the drawing process may
illustrate a much more general issue, shedding new light on the social nature of emotional
interactions and the difficulty of distinguishing individual emotions from shared emotional
relationships in socially constructed realities.
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TRACEY | journal: Syntax of Mark and Gesture
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