LOOK AT YOUR FISH!

Процесс рисования включает себя обязательный этап наблюдения- простой и  глубокий метод изучения предмета. Рисуя объект, даже знакомый, к нему внимательно присматриваешься, и в результате, обязательно узнаешь о нем много нового. Насколько важным может быть этот простой метод наблюдения изучаемого предмета, хочу процитировать одной историей по материалам курса на ресурсе  edX. Кстати, я думаю, поэтому художники - одни из самых эрудированных людей - им приходится много наблюдать, подмечать и изучать.

В одной из первых лекций курса Tangible Things речь шла о выдающемся ученом своего времени Луи Агассисе. Эта история меня заворожила, и мне кажется, к рисованию она имеет непосредственное отношение.

Ниже цитирую текст лекции на английском языке:

1. In 1874, a Boston's literary magazine published an essay by one of Louis Agassiz's former students, a man named Samuel Scudder.
2. Scudder talked about a unique method of pedagogy employed by the great professor.
3. He told how he came to Harvard, as a graduate student, really excited about learning more about natural history.And although his major interest was in butterflies at the time,he was willing to do almost anything that Agassiz told him.
4. So Agassiz began by taking him into the laboratory, choosing a bottle,and telling him to spend some time looking at the fish.
5. Scudder was sick of the fish within 10 minutes.And he went looking for Agassiz to see what he should do next.But Agassiz was nowhere to be found.So he had no choice but to go back, follow the instructions,and spend the rest of the day looking at that fish.He was careful not to let it dry out too much.Sometimes he had to moisten it with alcohol.He tried counting the scales, played a little bit with the fins.He jabbed his finger down its throat to feel the sharp teeth.And he was just totally frustrated.He felt like he had learned everything it was possible to learn about that fish, and no Agassiz and no escape.He began to think about the smell.What were his friends and family going to think when he came home with, you know, old fish on his body?Finally, he thought maybe he'd try drawing the fish.So just as he took out a pencil, Agassiz appeared.Very good, the great man said.A pencil is a great eye.Than he began to quiz Scudder. What had he learned?And Scudder went on.He explained the details of what he had observed.And Agassiz said, well, that's all good, but you'vemissed the most obvious point.You'll have to come back tomorrow and look at the fish.
6. This is a story about science.But it's also a story about close looking.It's a story about the 19th century obsession with material things.In the 19th century, it wasn't just scientists who looked closely to find information.Poets, politicians, teachers, lawyers, doctors, everyday people collected things as a way to understand the world around them.
7. There was a belief that you could learn a great deal about looking closely at things, arranging those objects, sorting those things, and in many ways,tracing the shape of nature through your observation of those things.