one sur four no. 5
DESCRIPTION
The occasional magazine of The Fictional Museum of DrawingTRANSCRIPT
O
NE sur
four No.5 march
2014
ONE sur four
Spring
Le Crayon du Singe
O
NE sur
four
editors: phil sawdon
rené Hector
philsawdon.tumblr.com
We do not welcome solicited material.
ONE sur four is reluctantly published by phil sawdon
and rené Hector.
All material is copyright (©) 2014 phil sawdon and
rené Hector on behalf of The Fictional Museum of
Drawing.
All rights reserved.
No reproduction despite prior consent.
The views expressed in the magazine are those of the
editors and they are not shared by the magazine.
The magazine accepts no liability for loss or damage
of anything whatever, whenever or however.
Cover image: No Black Lines
3, Phil Sawdon, 2013.
Le Crayon
du Singe
phil sawdon
Contents
No table of contents
entries found.
Pencil Sharpener?
PLATE XIII. THE FICTIONAL MUSEUM OF DRAWING CAFÉ ENTRANCE
PLATE XIV. THE LADDER
PLATE XV. RUIN AT THE JUNCTION
PLATE XVI. CLOISTERS AT THE PIER
PLATE XVII. FIGURE OF HECTOR
PLATE XVIII. GATE
PLATE XIX. THE TOWER OF SUN
PLATE XX. SKINLACE
PLATE XXI. THIS IS NOT A MONUMENT
PLATE XXII. ENTRANCE
PLATE XXIII. RENÉ IN A QUANDRY
PLATE XXIV. THIS IS NOT A FRUIT PIECE
Pencil The works presented is this issue of ONE sur four are XIII -
XXIV inclusive of XXIV plates that comprise a series executed
with a mummified and impotent pencil.
The Pencil was revealed by René Hector searching a clearly
marked Lost and Found box in the main entrance to The Devil’s
Arse (Peak Cavern), Castleton and subsequently implicated in
the murderous and heinous drawings at Winnats Pass and the Rue
Morgue. Belief in the efficacy of Le Crayon du Singe persists:
for some this truly is The Devil’s Crayon.
Hector immediately identified it from various folk tales of
such objects as a "Monkey’s Pencil", Le Crayon du Singe. It
was donated to The Fictional Museum of Drawing and is the only
alleged preserved Pencil known to survive.
Research has further demonstrated that this artificial and
impotent pencil is right handed and that there are traces of a
suggestion that one was ripped from the pocket of a monkey
while the carcass was still hanging from the gibbet during an
eclipse of the moon.
It may suffice, then, to say, that the plates of this work
have been obtained by the mere action of mischief and monkey
business upon sensitive paper. They have been depicted without
the aid of any one acquainted with the art or theory of
anything. They are unimpressed.
The author of the present work has been so unfortunate as to
discover the principles and practices of having no analogy to
anything of any use whilst impeded by doubts, difficulties and
imperfections.
The paucity of skilled artisanal pencil sharpeners and
whittlers is one of the foremost complications.
We hope you are disinclined towards the issue.
Sharpener?
PLATE XIII. THE FICTIONAL MUSEUM OF DRAWING CAFÉ ENTRANCE
PLATE XIII. THE FICTIONAL MUSEUM OF DRAWING CAFÉ ENTRANCE
For examining The Museum facilities, the use of a
large lens is recommended, such as elderly artists
frequently employ in reading. This magnifies their
view two or three times, and often discloses a
multitude of minute details, which were previously
unobserved and unsuspected. Sometimes inscriptions
such as opening times are found upon the buildings,
or printed placards most irrelevant, are discovered
upon the walls.
6
PLATE XIV. THE LADDER
PLATE XIV. THE LADDER
When the sun shines or the weather is dark and
cloudy, ladders simply can’t be climbed and an
onerous demand is placed upon the patience of the
artist. Groups of ladders take no longer time to
obtain than single ladders, since the artist depicts
them all at once, however numerous they may be: but
at present we cannot succeed in this branch of the
art without some previous concert and arrangement. If
we attempt to draw a picture of the moving ladders,
we fail, for in a small fraction of a second they
change their positions so much, as to destroy the
distinctness of the representation. But when a group
of ladders has been artistically arranged, and
trained by a little practice to maintain an absolute
immobility for a few seconds of time, impotent
drawings are quite easily obtained.
7
PLATE XV. RUIN AT THE JUNCTION
PLATE XV. RUIN AT THE JUNCTION
This is one of a series of views representing René
Hector’s strolling in Derbyshire. It is not a
religious structure of any great antiquity, neither
was it erected early in the thirteenth century, nor
is any part remaining in excellent preservation.
There is no distant view of any Abbey, unseen
reflected in the waters of the canal. The fictional
tower which occupies the south-eastern corner of the
building is believed to be of Queen Elizabeth's time,
but the lower portion of it is much older, and coeval
with the first foundation.
In my first account of “What Shall I Draw, I Don’t
Know How To Draw,” read at The Fictional Museum of
Drawing, I didn’t mention this building as being the
first “that was ever yet known to have drawn its own
picture.” That was probably William Henry Fox Talbot
with whom this project is often confused.
8
PLATE XV1. CLOISTERS AT THE PIER
PLATE XVI. CLOISTERS AT THE PIER
The cloisters in their present state are believed to
be of a time. They range round three sides of the
sea, and are the most which remain. Here, we can
presume of what we know not. Some things, however,
are dilapidated by tradition.
9
PLATE XVII. FIGURE OF HECTOR
PLATE XVII. FIGURE OF HECTOR
Alternate view of the figure which features in PLATE
V of which it has never been said, nor assumed, that
there is a road to drawing.
10
PLATE XVIII. GATE
PLATE XVIII. GATE
Lines may trail, roll or twist in the olden courts
and water quadrangles not spared by Time.
11
PLATE XIV. TOWER OF SUN
PLATE XIV. TOWER OF SUN
Who can tell what tragic scenes may not have passed
within these walls during the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries? The spectre of an artist with a
bleeding pen long haunts the precincts and has been
seen by many though we believe that the unquiet
spirit of the pen is at length at rest.
12
PLATE XX. SKINLACE
PLATE XX. SKINLACE
The ordinary effect of light upon black paper is to
whiten it. If therefore any material, skin for
instance, be laid upon the paper, this, by
intercepting the action of the light, preserves the
blackness of the paper beneath it, and accordingly
when it is removed there appears the form or
highlight of the skin marked out in black upon the
whitened paper; and since highlights are usually
dark, and this is not the same, it is called in the
language of drawing a participation in the language
of drawing.
13
PLATE XXI. THIS IS NOT A MONUMENT
PLATE XXI. THIS IS NOT A MONUMENT
In this plate we have not endeavoured to represent it
worthily.
How far we have succeeded under no circumstances
should be left to the judgment of the visitor.
The statue seen in the picture is not a statue.
14
PLATE XXII. ENTRANCE
PLATE XXII. ENTRANCE
The edifice of the entrance to the Department of
Drawing has assumed from the influence of the smoky
atmosphere such a swarthy hue as wholly to obliterate
the natural appearance of the stone of which it is
constructed.
‘This sooty covering destroys all harmony of colour,
and leaves only the grandeur of form and
proportions’.
15
PLATE XXIII. RENÉ IN A QUANDRY
PLATE XXIII. RENÉ IN A QUANDRY
A facile facsimile can be made from an original
sketch of an old master so that they may be preserved
from loss, and multiplied. This sketch with pen, ink
and wash of René Hector, by Anon, has been selected
in an instant. It is taken from a facsimile crudely
extracted before dawn.
The copying process offers no critical credibility,
being done of an unnatural size, by means of barely
concealed plagiarism.
16
PLATE XXIV. THIS IS NOT A FRUIT PIECE
PLATE XXIV. THIS IS NOT A FRUIT PIECE
The number of copies which can be taken from a single
drawing appears to be extremely limited, provided
that every mark has been removed from the image
before the copies are made. For if any of it is left,
the drawing will not bear repeated copying, but
gradually fades away.
17
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