American Artist, May 2002
An Update on the Masters
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Washington, DC
artist Robert Liberace studied Old Master drawings and devised
a way of emulating their appearance with modern art materials.
By Stephen Doherty
In his sophomore year at George Washington University, in Washington,
DC, Robert Liberace was introduced to a world of art-making that dazzled
his imagination. Until then, his most serious interest was baseball, a
pursuit that earned him a scholarship to the university. During his second
year, professor Frank Wright showed him how to make drawings in the tradition
of the Old Masters. “I got my first taste of what it might be like
to have a career as an artist, and I was intrigued,” Liberace remembers.
“I continued taking courses from Frank and studied painting with
William Woodward. By the time I graduated, I knew I wanted to be a professional
artist.”
Among many lessons, Wright taught Liberace how to make three-colored figure
drawings on laid paper that emulated the classical tonal drawings of Michelangelo,
Raphael, and Rubens. Traditionally, an artist drew the flesh of the figures
with red-earth chalk, deep shadows with a dark umber or black chalk, and
the highlights with white chalk. Those materials present something of
a problem for modern artists because the chalk is often soft and grainy,
so Wright taught his students to use sturdy Conté crayons. The
crayons are available in approximately the same earth colors as the chalks
and can be applied in crisp, thin lines or rubbed to create subtle tones.
Write also suggested that students first tone the surface of the laid
paper with watercolor, which later they could lift to expose the white
of the paper, revealing highlights on the posed models.
Before long, Liberace filled dozens of pages with extraordinary drawings
and experimented with variations on the materials and techniques his teacher
had introduced. That effort has continued since he completed his M.F.A.
degree at the university in 1993. Liberace now teaches anatomy, sculpture,
painting, and figure drawing at The Art League in Alexandria, Virginia.
He also accepts commissions for portraits and exhibits his drawings and
paintings with several commercial galleries.
After years of trying different materials and carefully observing Old
Master drawings, Liberace has identified a variety of materials and techniques
that best record his observations of live models holding active poses.
In addition to the materials he used in school, he now tones his paper
with various waterbased materials and has added wax-based colored pencils
to his arsenal of the drawing instruments.
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The one constant in his selection of materials is Twinrocker handmade laid paper. He buys 20”-x-30” sheets of either Yale or calligraphy cream antique laid paper from the Indiana company (www.twinrocker.com). “The paper is as good or better than any other I’ve tried,” Liberace comments. “I buy it for myself and my students.” For his drawings, he often sizes the surface of the paper so it is even more receptive to the Conté crayons and colored pencils and will easily release the watercolor tone. He applies either a diluted solution of animal-hide glue, gelatin, or amber shellac. “I use the diluted shellac more than the other two sizing materials because it makes the paper more receptive to the waxy pencils,” he explains. “With the right preparations, lines made with the wax-based pencils wind up looking more like hard Conté.”
Depending on whether he wants a warm or cool wash of color to tone the
paper, Liberace uses diluted mixtures of yellow ochre, cadmium red, raw
sienna, or ultramarine blue watercolor or gouache. He has even dusted
diluted coffee to create the antique brownish tone often associated with
Old Master drawings. “The point is to apply a color that is midway
between the value of darks and the highlights in the drawing,” he
explains. He erases the watercolor to create the highlights, or he applies
white gouache for a stronger contrast.
Liberace first establishes the scale, proportions, and thrust of the figure
by making a light gesture drawing with soft red or black chalk (charcoal
or Conté). He then concentrates on the contour of the individual
body parts and draws them with firm pressure applied to a sharp Conté
crayon. He smudges those lines to create a cloudy, subtle indication of
the volumes of the figure, then he makes more linear marks with the crayon.
“I build up crisscrossed lines, rob them with my finger to weave
or melt them back into the paper and add more lines until I have carefully
delineated all the subtle modulations in the flesh,” he explains.
“I then work over the charcoal and Conté with hard, waxy
colored pencils to complete the drawings.”
Occasionally, Liberace uses only black charcoal or Conté crayon
to make his drawings, or he switches to a completely different set of
materials and makes silverpoint drawings. Those images comprise actual
strands of sterling silver on a clay-coated paper. As the metal scratches
into the clay surface, it leaves deposits of silver that can tarnish to
become the dark lines of drawing. No erasures can be made, so every mark
Liberace applies remains visible in the final drawing.
Although these various drawing materials produce images reminiscent of
an Old Master, Liberace points out that he is not copying historic works,
but using materials and techniques that suggest a similar presence. “Modern
drawing instruments can suggest something similar to the work done hundreds
of years ago, but they don’t really duplicate the same look or feel
in the drawings,” he remarks. “For example, most 16th-century
drawings are much smaller and are created with extremely fine lines and
rich, earthy tones. I am trying to respect and learn from the past while
creating something uniquely my own.”
Liberace bases all of his drawings on models posing for an average of
five hours for each completed image. That time is stretched over a number
of days because it is impossible for the men and women to hold active
poses for more than a few minutes at a time. “I hire professional
models who are able to hold poses for relatively long periods of time,
but I try to break up the sessions so they can sustain an interesting
pose,” he explains. “I start with a quick gesture drawing
of the complete pose and then allow the models to take their first break.
As I refine the drawing, I try to make them comfortable while I concentrate
on each part of their body. For example, they can sometimes sit while
I draw the upper part of their body or hold on to a rope or a pole while
I move down to the legs.”
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Inevitably, the models assume a slightly different position
after taking a break or after hours of strenuous effort. In those situations,
Liberace either corrects the model or makes a new drawing of the arm,
leg, or head next to the image he was already developing. “I like
having the suggestion of other positions of the model on the same piece
of paper,” he says. “Those are especially useful when I’m
making a painting and I want to consider other possibilities.”
Many of Liberace’s drawings are created as independent works of
art, while others are studies for paintings or sculptures. “My approach
is pretty much the same no matter what the reasons for making the drawings,
except that I ask models and portrait clients to take certain kinds of
poses if the drawings are studies for other work,” he explains.
Several of the drawings reproduced here were made as studies for the large,
multifigured oil painting Apocalypse.
In recent years, Liberace has expanded his activities as a portraitist,
accepting a greater number of commissions for both drawings and painting.
He has also done a number of sculptures, both for himself and for clients,
and he is currently working on a project to model a crucifix for a church
in Maryland. “I haven’t had as much time as I would like to
pursue sculpture, but I’ve always enjoyed taking my ideas into a
three-dimensional medium,” he says. He is hoping that the new studio
he is building in suburban Virginia will have space for sculpture projects
as well as his drawing and painting activities.
For the past two years, Liberace has also been enjoying his new role as
a father. He and his artist wife, Lina, have a daughter, Celia, who has
stolen their hearts as well as their attentions. The Liberaces live on
the outskirts of Washington, DC, just a short drive from his current studio
in the city and his classes in Alexandria.
Liberace is represented by the Arcadia gallery in New York City and the
Classical Art Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. For further information,
contact the artist through his galleries or at his studio: 411 New York
Ave., N.E., Washington, DC 20002;
phone: (202) 544-3241.