Divided into Planes

This pastel drawing ‘Model Session – 2026-05-19 – 2’ is my second male nude executed in sanguine. This time divided into planes. A bit cubist really, even though the definition of cubism doesn’t apply. As explained in the past, the very movement was all about multi-perspectivism rather than showing angular forms only. This having said, I think I still like to categorize my artworks as such. Terms such as ‘constructivism’ I don’t find particularly attractive, rather vague and not cutting to the chase. Let me ask you instead: what word would you grant my curious mixture of realism, impressionism and cubism?

The Transition between Planes and Meaning

It was hot in our life drawing community centre ‘De Blauwe Tram’. That’s why we had Jelco sit during the second session. The first one was a standing pose. Always a pleasure to vary and in this pose he struck I recognized the potential of planar divisions immediately. He is a slender yet muscular man, beautifully illuminated by light from the upper right highlighting his defined form. Finding those forms came easy which gives away my love for cubist styling as well. Finding and depicting those abstract forms necessarily induces the meaning of all combined forms, such as ‘a nude man’. My students often restrain to drawing noses, legs, hands, feet, heads and torsos. Then again, such only delivers shallow symbolic representations thereof. Tell me, where do you stand? Will you be able to spot the transition between planes and meaning? If so, I did a good job.

Sound Composition

Back home, I didn’t feel compelled to finetune a lot of things. I added more definition to the facial features and introduced a hint of vertical structure. The latter counterbalances the horizontal suggestion of the bed he is sitting on and the diagonally placed leg. There you have it, all three major directions incorporated in one pastel. Personally, I like the leg sticking out to the lower left side best. It serves as a counterbalance to the clumpy torso, right leg and arms.

Pastel drawing on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper (63 x 47 x 0.1 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers

Sales info: info@corneakkers.com

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