Jacques-Louis David's drawings: bodies in action

Abstract

Draws a novel triangular connection between practices of drawing, questions of posture and notions of figural agency -carefully recreating Jacques-Louis David's crafting of the human figure. Based on comprehensive research in David's rarely seen drawing notebooks, it shows how understudied procedures, such as tracings, reversals, collages, grids, and revolving sketchbooks, are highly significant for his final artworks, affecting both the structure and meaning of his historical canvases.