Pride, Prejudice and the Pencil

Advertisements for pencils and drawing aids published in The Studio from the 1900s to the 1960s tell the story of a changing world of drawing. Pencils take on the role of weapons of war, patriotic symbols, the tools of industrial design - as well as being of the supreme quality necessary for the masterpiece. The pictures reflect the ethos of their time towards technology, nationhood, nakedness, ‘modern’ art, the contrast between workmanship and fluency. Today much of that drawing is achieved through the computer. The world of pencil drawing has shrunk. We somehow speak of both the decline and the resurgence of drawing, saying little about technique, much more about theory, and about ‘the body’. We focus on figure drawing and mark-making. We neglect the digital. A future generation may look back at us with the same amusement, though sadly the art of advertising pencils has long been in decline.

• http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sota/...
• http://www.igi-global.com/article/not-be...
• http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/gettin...