Charles Bargue developed the Cours de dessin, one of the most influential classical drawing courses conceived in collaboration with Jean-Léon Gérôme. The course, published between 1866 and 1871 by Goupil & Cie, comprised 197 lithographs printed as individual sheets, was to guide students from plaster casts to the study of great master drawings and finally to drawing from the living model. The Charles Bargue Drawing Course is used by many academies and ateliers which focus of Classical Realism. Among the artists whose work is based on the study of Bargue’s plate work are Pablo Picasso[1] and Vincent van Gogh, who copied the complete set in 1880/1881, and (at least a part of it) again in 1890.
I have been pursuing this approach for three semesters at a local Academy devoted to the practice, and very much enjoying the process.
Allen & Darrel Projects 