Charles Bargue’s Cours de dessin is one of the most influential classical drawing courses conceived in collaboration with Jean-Léon Gérôme. The course, published between 1866 and 1871 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 on classical realism.
The Drawing Course is separated into three sections, in ascending order of difficulty. The first section consists of lithographs by Bargue after casts of sculptures, mostly antique examples that present the structure of the human body with remarkable clarity and intelligence. The second part contains the lithographs that Bargue made after master drawings by Renaissance and modern artists, and the third section almost 60 exemplary figure drawings.
While this is a comprehensive curriculum covering the entire Bargue process, each 4-week session is designed to be able to take independently and will concentrate on specific features of the process.
The Cours de dessin book by Charles Bargue is highly recommended for these sessions. Photo references will be emailed to you weekly for the following session.
