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December 28, 2007
Examinations
It was Thursday the 28th of April, 1892 when my Great Aunt, Catherine Anne Middlebrooke, turned over her art examination paper.
She had one and a half hours to: sketch in the leading lines of the WHOLE FIGURE printed on the back of this page, making the sketch sufficiently large to fairly fill the drawing paper supplied.
No lines my be drawn on this example for the purpose of making the required copy, and no ruling, squaring or measuring of any kind is allowed.
Here’s one Great Aunt Anne did the year before, when she was 15:
No free choice in the 1890s, no Old Boot or Fish & Chips either. Not even a snowy scene with charcoal and sugar paper. No, it was just freehand copying.
Today you get eight weeks to prepare for a ten hour exam. Difficult to know which method demonstrates the most skill.
Posted by john at December 28, 2007 10:37 PM
Comments
Fascinating! Well, I could do that pretty accurately - - but I can't do Art. Cousin Amy could do it perfectly, as you know, and she can also do Art. So I think it's just a kind of draughtsmanship test - not a test of REAL drawing. Really interesting to see, though.
Posted by: Daphne at December 29, 2007 10:55 AM