What is The Fésole Club?
“For the aim of this club was to make drawing the means of a true education, by which, in learning to sketch, one may learn a more valuable art—the Art of Seeing.””
The Fésole Club Papers are a collection of watercolor painting prompts, written by William Gershom Collingwood, that were published in the Parents’ Review, a “Monthly Home Training and Culture” magazine edited by Charlotte Mason. They appeared there starting in 1891 and ran for four years.
Members of the Fésole Club would pay a monthly fee to be able to submit their work for critique after completing each lesson. These critiques, offered by Mr. Collingwood in the spirit of an object-lesson, were collected in a portfolio to be sent around to all club members offering his artistic insight. A series of letters from Collingwood to Ms. Mason show them agreeing that the individualized critique and viewing of the collective portfolio were to be a vital piece of the success of the club, setting it apart from other “sketching clubs” at the time that had no educative value.
Ten years later, Mason complimented him by asking him to reprint the collection. He had them reprinted in a book and added a few extra bits detailing the club’s working through it. Rather than trying to incubate artistic genius, working through these papers was meant to support the student’s general education through drawing and painting. Collingwood was the patient mentor of The Fésole Club for four years. Here are his final remarks on the club from his last paper:
“In these four years we travelled over a wide field of study, from simple objects of still-life to landscape, and the rudiments of composition and portraiture. We painted all manner of animals, and applied ourselves, not in vain, to figures and faces. Those members who were able to give reasonable attention to the work of the club, as set forth in the papers, and still more in the criticisms and instructions of the monthly portfolio, do not, I believe, regret the time they spent. They were taught few tricks of the trade; still less were they induced to imitate any popular mannerism. For the aim of this club was to make drawing the means of a true education, by which, in learning to sketch, one may learn a more valuable art--the Art of Seeing.”
Want to see a gallery of modern student work from this prompt?
Better yet, want to work through these papers on your own?
(Text of this paper is provided by Riverbend Press.)