Charcoal

This charcoal drawing was done on a dark toned paper and so most of my work was in pulling out the lighter values, and darkening the deepest shadows and background. I worked from a photograph that I saw flash on the tv in a documentary about the artist Thomas Eakins. I searched through books in the library until I found the small platinum photograph, taken by the artist, probably at the end of the 19^thcentury.  I think I was primarily drawn to the photograph because of how luminous the model’s skin looked in contrast to the background.