“Oil Painting Secrets from a Master” was published by Watson-Guptill, in 1995.
The author, Linda Cateura, spent two years listening to David Leffel as he taught at the Art Students League in New York. Her notebooks would become the basis for “lessons” intended to bring the teaching of the Master to a wider audience.
That there is a demand for teaching from Leffel cannot be in doubt. Devoted admirers liken him to Rembrandt. He is said to be a gifted teacher. And, throughout the US, his Master-classes are sell-out affairs.
Ms. Cateura starts her book with Leffel emphasising the fundamental truth that painters must learn how to see. And the stress is on “seeing” as understanding… The painter must understand what is significant enough to be included in the painting. Such understanding grows out of “the Concept”. His explanation is… “The concept is the essence of your painting… it is the structure and framework on which your assembled subject matter (composition, value and colour) is suspended…”
To show what this means, he looks at a number of his own paintings where “the Concept is Value”… or where “the Concept is Movement of Light”.
But, in the space available in a book of this size, the statements are compressed to the point of being cryptic. There’s a feeling of “Confucius say…”
One senses that there’s wisdom here… but what does it mean?
In the Materials section Leffel mentions Maroger, the medium he makes himself – from cold-pressed linseed oil, litharge and mastic varnish. His faith in this substance has made it moderately famous – at least as a topic of conversation… “Is it, or is it not, the secret recipe of the Old Masters?”
When he comes to describing Painting Procedures, Leffel’s approach is solidly traditional. “You are always working from the larger to the smaller…”
What‘s distinctive is his stress on “the painterly gesture”. He has no doubt that the way we transfer paint from the brush to the canvas will determine what kind of artists we may become.
In all of this, his comments are supported by page after page of Still-lifes, Portraits, Self-portraits and Nudes. What these have in common is a movement of light through darkness… and a fluency of brushwork that, at times, really does recall the incomparable van Rijn. In fairness, it’s a collection to make most academic painters go viridian with envy.
And yet, for me, the book’s problem may be that it offers too many remarkable paintings. Each time I open it, my mind and eyes wander from the text to the images. It’s perverse to say it… but I have difficulty in relating Leffel’s recorded comments to the paintings he has made. In some foolish way I think of the picture as a magical thing… and the accompanying words seem like the “hocus-pocus” of an old-time conjurer.
Ms. Cateura’s intention was good, and she shows some wonderful work.
But the Master reveals very few of his “secrets”.
2 comments:
Beware of Maroger's medium which "Oil Painting Secrets from a Master" says Leffel made. In its various guises it is a dangerous concoction. "The current Maroger's Medium is a mixture of black oil with mastic varnish. As frequently mentioned in this book under megilp and other topics, I do not advise the use of materials of this type" cf. The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques by Ralph Mayer. This is the definitive book on the subject of safe practice.
Firstly, I would to compliment Aidan on his review of David Leffel’s book Oil Painting Secrets from a Master by Linda Cateura. The review is well written and Aidan questions many of Leffel’s ideas of painting “Concepts”; his skills as a modern master and also his sometimes cryptic statements in relation to his own work.
I would have to say that this book is not for beginners but for those with some painting experience. It defiantly is not a "How to paint" guide but it's more a series of bullet points/concerns/hints & tips, etc. for each stage of his painting process. I have long been an admirer of David’s work and I was fortunate enough to have studied with him for a week in New York in 2004. Having purchased and read his book prior to the workshop, I asked him to elaborate on his emphasis on “concepts”. His explanation was that concepts are whatever point is of interest in the painting i.e. brushstrokes, building mass, use of light and dark, colour, values, etc. He teaches that in painting a still life, you shouldn’t just place a number of objects together and then attempt to copy them accurately as your paintings may turn out dull and flat. Your paintings must have a certain quality/concept that will lift them out of the ordinary, e.g. a central focal point, rich impasto paint versus thin paint, dark shadows and bright highlights, crisp brushstrokes, etc.
As Aidan mentions in his review, the book is filled with page after page of Still-Lifes, Portraits, Self Portraits and Nudes. While I agree with Aidan that David revels very few of his “secrets”, I have learned a lot from the material in this book and I am inspired by the artist's work. This is still one of the best art books I own and the book is worth it for the catalogue of David’s work alone. I would disagree with Aidan when he says that the book offers too many remarkable paintings. In fact in order to see more images of David’s paintings, I recently purchased his other two books “An Artist Teaches” and “Self-Portraits”.
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