Disegnare per la Scultura: 1400-1970 (Pisa, 14-15 May 27)
Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore, May 14–15, 2027
Date limite : 31 aout 2026
Drawing for Sculpture: 1400–1970
Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore (May 14–15, 2027)
How and why do sculptors draw?
This seemingly obvious question still struggles to find satisfactory answers in art history, despite the most valuable contributions, as well as commendable exhibitions, of the past two decades. The long-standing tendency in scholarly tradition to prioritize painting over sculpture, combined with the well-known difficulties associated with the connoisseurship of drawing, has in fact led to a surprising neglect of the issue concerning sculptors’ graphic work.
This appears to be due, on the one hand, to an intrinsic (at least apparent) scarcity of works on paper – especially concerning the early modern period – that can be securely linked to sculptural works. On the other hand, this outcome was undoubtedly influenced by the widespread belief that “many excellent sculptors work without drawing anything on paper” (Giorgio Vasari to Benedetto Varchi, February 12, 1546).
Yet Vasari himself not only owned numerous sheets related to sculpture in his so-called Libro de’ disegni, but he also celebrated in his Vite the fundamental role of drawing in the practice of the most important Tuscan sculptors of the 15th and 16th centuries: from Donatello to Jacopo Sansovino, from Jacopo della Quercia to Giambologna. Very few sheets by these and by many other artists he mentions as particularly devoted to drawing are unanimously attributed today: as a result, we still seem to know little or nothing not only about their authorship, but more generally about the existence of this type of drawing, its characteristics, and its functions.
While for some of the most famous sculptors of the 16th and 17th centuries (such as Michelangelo, Bandinelli, or Bernini) we do have some solid graphic corpora – attesting to a drawing practice not exclusively preliminary to sculptural activity – we know very little, by contrast, about their contemporaries.
The problem, in fact, does not lie solely in the correct attribution of drawings. Rather, it is a matter of understanding what role drawing plays in the training and specific work of the sculptor. Among the aims of the conference is therefore to broaden the discussion on the function of drawing in the phases that precede or accompany the creation of sculptural works (in tutto tondo or in relief, for individual statues or for decorative, architectural, or monumental sculptural ensembles), highlighting in particular the variety of drawings (project drawings, study drawings, sketches, visual notes, models).
In huge Baroque workshops, for example, drawing served as the means by which a master could oversee the division of tasks among his collaborators and the execution of projects, but also as the educational tool par excellence, as demonstrated by the numerous academic study sheets that have survived to this day.
If between the 17th and 18th centuries drawing had thus become an integral part of both workshop and academic practice, the meaning assigned to works on paper seems to have taken on a new function from the mid-19th century onward.
Questioning the persistence – or not – of a particular language, specific to sculptural drawing, over time is therefore one of the main aims of this conference.
Some of the most prolific draughtsmen of the late 19th century, such as Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Auguste Rodin, or Émile-Antoine Bourdelle in France, or Vincenzo Gemito in Italy, accorded to drawing a decisive role: one that was only apparently autonomous but, on closer inspection, strictly functional to the development of a precise sensibility for form and figure.
Along a related line, an important strand of 20th-century sculpture – from Jacob Epstein to Henry Moore – rests solidly on drawing as a research tool, both as a form of experimentation and as a resource for studying the archaeological and art-historical vocabulary. By contrast, it is striking – and worthy of investigation – how artists, such as Arturo Martini, declared drawing to be a wholly marginal practice, essentially ineffective for the research of the contemporary sculptor.
In the 1960s, beginning with Minimalism and the research on “Primary Structures,” and later with the poetics of Arte Povera and Environmental Art, sculptors’ drawing once again becomes a project in its own right. It serves to work out on paper the dimensional, material, and display requirements of the sculpture or installation, while also providing an often written explanation for its meaning. At the same time, drawing acquires an autonomous value: in dialogue with conceptual art, sculptors tend to reduce the work to pure conception, and project drawings come to be regarded as objects to be exhibited or introduced into the art market.
Participation guidelines and proposals for contributions
On the occasion of the conference Drawing for Sculpture: 1400–1970, we invite researchers, PhD candidates, scholars, and experts to contribute individually or with a joint presentation. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
– Preparatory drawings, projects, and presentation drawings for plastic or sculptural works (realized or not);
– Drawings by sculptors not necessarily linked to finished projects, illustrating the creative process and the relevance (or irrelevance?) of drawing in relation to sculpture;
– Circulation of models: drawing practices within a sculpture workshop; reuse of the same project for multiple purposes;
– Methodological reflections: how can a sculptor’s drawing be identified and studied?
– The materiality of drawing for sculpture through selected examples: how are three-dimensionality and surface values rendered on paper, and what relationship is established between drawing and sculpted or modeled matter?
Each presentation will last 25 minutes and may be delivered in Italian or English. The organization will cover accommodation and travel expenses (the latter in economy class and within specified limits depending on distance). Papers will be considered for publication in the proceedings, subject to peer review.
Please send paper proposals (max. 500 words), along with a short CV, to ga************@*ns.it and gi***********@*ns.it by August 31, 2026. Notification of acceptance will be sent by November 15, 2026.
