Saturday, March 26, 2011

Piggyback Sketching

English illustrator Harry Furniss (1854-1925) related this amusing incident in The Magazine of Art in 1888.

Once while covering a political event in Birmingham, his view of the speaker was blocked by a number of very tall gentlemen.

“Although close to him on the platform, I could not, being only five feet two, see over the heads of others when all stood to cheer. I mentioned this fact to my neighbor. ‘Oh, you must not miss this scene!’ he said, and quickly, without ceremony, he had me on his back, his bald head serving as an easel.”

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Harry Furniss in Wikipedia

2 comments:

  1. It is very inspirational to hear those anecdotes about artists who'd do anything extraordinary, eccentric, embarrassing or goofy to get the best results possible. I remind these incidents to myself every time I catch myself going "maybe I could...nah". ;-)

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