Adrian Hill

 

The best Art book I have ever read, was a relatively small book as art books go by British artist, Adrian Hill. How so many good ideas could be packed into such a small book is amazing. This book doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, but the drawings, in particular, are so “clever”, that it inspires you to take up drawing.

Adrian Keith Graham Hill (1895-1977), enlisted in the Army at the start of World War One, where due to his artistic abilities he was assigned to the Scouting and Sniping section. He had to sketch the enemy in front of allied trenches, in no man's land. Later Hill recalled such a typical patrol as follows:

“I advanced in short rushes, mostly on my hands and knees, with a sketching kit dangling around my neck. As I slowly approached, the wood gradually took a more definite shape, and as I crept nearer I saw that what was hidden from my own line, now revealed itself as a cunningly contrived observation post in one of the battered trees.”

In 1938 while recovering from tuberculosis at a sanatorium, he found that drawing nearby objects from his hospital bed greatly aided in his recovery. This led to Occupational Therapy being introduced in Hospitals, and Hill was invited to teach drawing and painting to injured soldiers and later civilian patients. Hill believed that Art helped divert patients and relieved their mental distress. He also believed that Art appreciation aided recovery and this led to a picture lending scheme (of famous artists' work). Hill himself along with other artists talked to patients about artworks. Hill coined the term (Art Therapy), and published his work in his 1942 book, Art Versus Illness. Hill published many books about drawing and painting and was the first artist commissioned by the Imperial War Museum in 1917.

In his art book: "THE BEGINNER'S BOOK OF OIL PAINTING" he had drawn a black and white drawing, of a 1950's English landscape I think. These drawings inspired me to such an extent that I turned it into a watercolor painting: Both the original drawing and my painting are given below. I only wish I had used more green for the trees and foliage.

Watercolour painting by me

 

Wassily Kandinsky

 

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (1866-1944), was a Russian painter widely credited as the pioneer of abstract art. He felt that art should have no recognizable objects or forms, but rather should destroy reality in order to arrive at the underlying truth of existence. He called his spiritual desire for art “inner necessity”. Kandinsky studied law and economics at the University of Moscow, and was offered a professorship at the University of Dorpat, but he abandoned his career in 1896 at the age of 30, and went to Munich to study art. But before leaving Moscow, he saw an exhibit of paintings by Monet. It had a profound effect on him, and may have influenced his later venture into abstract art.

In 1896 Kandinsky settled in Munich, studying art at the Academy of Fine Arts. But he returned to Moscow in 1914. After the Russian Revolution he seemed to have been involved with Russian Marxist revolutionary Anotoly Lunacharsky, becoming an insider in the cultural administration. However because “his spiritual outlook was different to the argumentative materialism of Soviet society” he returned to Germany in 1920. There he taught art at the Bauhaus School until Hitler closed it down in 1933. He then moved to France producing some of his most prominent work until his death a few days before his 78th birthday.

Wassily Kandinsky was an early champion of abstract painting and believed that abstract art could be used to express the “inner life” of the artist. His favorite color was blue, and he believed that the circle was the most peaceful shape and represents the human soul.

Sir Humphry Davy

 

 

Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was a British Chemist. Davy discovered the elements potassium and sodium (1807), and barium and calcium (1808). These discoveries resulted from his researches in electro-chemistry. He was the first to isolate magnesium and strontium (1808) independently of the French chemist Gay-Lussac and Thenard. His miner’s safety lamp (1815) was a major contribution to industrial safety. Although two other men claimed this invention, Davy is generally given the credit.

Davy was born in Cornwall. As an apprentice to an apothecary and surgeon, he became interested in chemistry. In 1799 as an assistant in the Pneumatic Institution of Bristol, he made important discoveries of the properties of nitrous oxide. This accomplishment won him an appointment, at 23, as professor of chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London.

Davy’s talent for storytelling, combined with his brilliant scientific record, made him one of the most popular lecturers of his day. Although Britain and France were enemies at this time, Davy was awarded the Napoleon Prize of the French Institute in 1808. He was knighted in 1812 and was made a baronet in 1818. He became president of the Royal Society in 1820.

As a poet, over one hundred and sixty manuscript poems were written by Davy, the majority of which are found in his personal notebooks. Most of his written poems were not published, and he chose instead to share a few of them with his friends. Eight of his known poems were published. His poems reflected his views on both his career and also his perception of certain aspects of human life. He wrote on human endeavors and aspects of life like death, metaphysics, geology, natural theology and chemistry.

The Industrial Revolution - Soot Portrait (Drawn by me using a black pen)

 

The Industrial Revolution - In A More Favorable Light (Drawing by me)

 

Michael Faraday

 

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was an English physicist and chemist. Faraday’s discovery of electromagnetic induction led to his invention of the electric motor and electric generator. His inventions laid the basis for much of the technology of the 20th century. In 1821 he had used a magnet and a wire containing an electric current to produce mechanical motion, thereby creating an electric motor. Ten years later Faraday reversed the process: using magnetism to produce an electric current, he invented the dynamo, or generator.

Faraday formulated the basic laws of electrolysis during his early work in chemistry. Ion, anode cathode and electrode are some of the chemical terms he introduced. In 1825 he became the first to liquefy gases under pressure. In 1845 he discovered the Faraday Effect of magnetism on polarized light. His later days were spent in formulating a general electromagnetic field theory, later completed by James Clerk Maxwell. The farad is named for him.

The son of a blacksmith in Newington, Surrey, Faraday received little formal schooling. He became interested in science while apprenticed to a London bookbinder. In 1813 he got a job as laboratory assistant to Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution in London. Faraday became director of the laboratory in 1825 and professor of chemistry in 1833. He scorned wealth and worldly honors, refusing knighthood and the presidency of the Royal Society. While other men made money from his discoveries Faraday devoted himself exclusively to scientific research.

Oil Pastel

 

Water colour

Oil Pastel

 

Oil Pastel