24 TEACHERs COLLEGE COLUmbIA UNIvERsITy
The bigger Picture of Drawing
communities, was a record of a vision. It was nei-
ther the product of Babcock’s imagination nor an
image designed to speak for itself. It was intended
as a factual record of a divine visitation that could
be used in conjunction with a spoken narrative, as a
visual aid and teaching tool.
The pictorial
The Pictorial relies for the most part on an
embedded narrative, which, if it works, enables the
drawing to speak for itself.
Although the 30,000-year-old drawings of quad-
rupeds made in the caves of southern France and
Spain may appear as an attractive starting point,
more straight forward (because we know their pur-
pose) are the drawings made by recording artists
during the European voyages of discovery between
the 15th and 18th centuries. In 1660, for example,
John White drew what Sir Walter Raleigh dubbed
“the princess of fruit” iii. At first, this very accurate,
life-like, life-sized drawing of a pineapple would
have required some explanation. Over time how-
ever, our familiarity with the exotic fruit allowed
the drawing to speak for itself. Along similar lines
John Webber, the official artist on Cook’s third voy-
age, drew a long-beaked, standing up straight, not
very aerodynamic, bird. Even then I suspect his
image of a King Penguiniv spoke for itself. Another
drawing that, in spite of its intentionally ambiguous
aims remains clear cut and Pictorial, is the Joseph
Jastrow duck-rabbit drawingv. This is an image that
Jastrow realized had the ability to support his argu-
ment that perception was not
simply a product of the stimu-
lus but also of mental activity.
Over time this drawing may
have developed an off stage
narrative, but on the page both
duck and rabbit function picto-
rially.The orders
After the sometimes broken
line that separates the concep-
tual from the pictorial comes
a solid line that produces “The
Orders” of drawing. The Order
of any particular drawing is
determined by its purpose
which, within this taxonomy,
will be to be either Definitive or
Speculative.
When Class and Order are put together they
produce four sub orders: The Pictorially Specula-
tive, The Pictorially Definitive, The Conceptually
Speculative and the Conceptually Definitive.
Depending on the job in hand, a draftsman will
work sometimes towards a Definition. By this I
mean, a drawing that presents its subject as a fact, as
White and Webber did when they draw their Pine-
apples and Penguins. Other times, draftsmen work
more tentatively towards Speculative outcomes, as
Cezanne did when he drew Monte Sainte Victoire
over and over again.The modes
After the Definitive and Speculative orders
come the Modes of drawing. Less concerned with
approach than intent, The Modes sub-divide draw-
ings into those intended as Instructional and the
rest that simply set out to Describe. Road and sports
field markings, and the icon on the lavatory door
are examples of drawings made within the Instruc-
tive mode. Maps, David Hockney’s portraits made
with a Camera Lucida, and White’s Penguin are all
examples of the Descriptive Mode.
Within my taxonomy every drawing has three
possible allegiances, first to either the Pictorial
or Conceptual, then to being either Definitive
or Speculative then finally to being engineered
towards either an Instructive or Descriptive mode.The taxonomy appliedFigure 2. A pictorial taxonomy of drawing. Ink and pencil on paper, 2010.