Étude Noire – 2026-06-30

My Love for Noir

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Étude Noire – 2026-06-30’ expresses my love for combining extreme highlights with pitch-black structures. It’s the end of June and I completed 4 life pastel drawings I still had to catch up with. They are all posted now, and I have all the time in the world to move on and begin new projects. Before I dive into new oils this one was itching my imagination for quite some time. In the recent past I had a model pose for me in extreme lighting. Caught up completing my oil painting ‘In Hoc Signo’ this drawing was still waiting to be executed. Nothing but fun for those who simply adore applying hefty chiaroscuro effects on paper.

Tonal Rhythm in the M

What I liked was the gigantic ‘M’ pose she struck, of course instructed by me. I can remember I saw something similar a long time ago. That must have been from one of those 1920s or 1930s art deco-ish photos but I’m not fully sure. Do you see the linear structures in her back, calf and at her knee? These serve as wedge-like structures, counterbalancing the M-shape. All in all, the pose was constructed to show exactly that. The rhythm of the light and darkness from left to right does the rest.

One Triangular Shape

The rest was subordinated to the M-shape. Take the head for example. Normally I would elaborate and cubistically style it. Not this time though. It was too small anyway and it would have only diverted the attention from the main theme. The only worry I had was the merging of the dark lower body with the cast shadows beneath it. The triangular white shape below her foot saves the day because it breaks up all things dark. Completely different from my last drawing The Peace Palace – 2026-06-10. This is how it goes: from silvery to a study in ‘noire’.

Pitt Graphite Matt pencil (Faber-Castell, 14B) drawing on Clairfontaine Ingres paper (21 x 28.5 x 0.1 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers

Sales info: info@corneakkers.com

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