Vibrations of the Bauhaus.

This is a rare drawing of my usually nude model with clothes on, relaxing and reading. I drew this pose onto very large paper using rough chalky pastels and colour ink wash in a very limited palette of red and green, which are complementary colours on Itten’s colour circle. This sets up a tension between the colours in the eye of those looking at it. It’s 37 years since Johannes Itten’s book on colour theory was a set text in my first year at Art College and I’ve never been without a copy since. Not only was Itten a great theorist and teacher, but the courses he developed at the Bauhaus influenced the Foundation courses in British art colleges two generations later. His teaching was so influential it still vibrates through art practice all these years later.