The value of the bozzetto

July 21, 2006

Dear iona,

"Bozzetto" is an Italian term for a sculptor's small-scale
model, usually in wax or clay, made in preparation for a
full-scale work in more permanent material. Like the French
"maquette," a bozzetto is often exploratory. The word bozzetto,
however, can also mean a sketch for a painting--even a
sketch-for–its-own-sake that can march out into the world and
have a life of its own.

Artists of all stripes need to know that the bozzetto is not
just a sketch but a state of mind. With its low degree of
commitment and expectation, it gives high value and ongoing
reward as a creative tool. Lending itself to the magical ploys
of series and set, it frees the mind of great obligation and
prepares the groundwork for visual freshness. Together with the
golden rule of "chuck it," regularly practiced, bozzetto-making
is a sure route to style and an individualist personality. It
also goes a long way toward overcoming obsessive overworking
and the perennial inability of some artists to wind up their
work. Because of its casual nature, bozzetto-making simply and
directly self-teaches the painterly virtues of audacity,
paucity, experimentation and elan.

Audacity: Daring, bold and impudent, the audacious painter
wades into action without knowing what she's getting into.
"Just do it" is her motto, and ego-force is her operating mode.

Paucity: Paucity is the absence of, or mere implication of
subjects or areas within a work. It also includes cursory,
lost-and-found lines and the minimal number of strokes
necessary to do the job. Paucity is the ultimate economy of
means.

Experimentation: The artist constantly asks "what could be?"
and shucks off the temptation to go for the tried and true. In
some ways, experimentation is the most stimulating act of the
creative process. With small stuff, the artist speculates:
"What the heck, I'll try this."

Elan: Flushed with energy and enjoying a vivacious rush, the
artist commits, conducts and masters. Elan itself releases the
genie of imagination. The artist looks and acts like a maestro
and thus becomes one.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "What is important is not the motif itself, so much as your
ability to imagine, speculate, organize, and above all, to
simplify." (Richard Busey)

Esoterica: Underlying all the enthusiasm I have for
bozzetto-making, there's the value of simplicity. Small,
inconsequential works facilitate simplicity, and the
broad-based habits so generated pass into larger pieces. Many
creators have experienced this epiphany. "Less is more," said
Robert Browning. The great photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson
noted, "It is by great economy of means that one arrives at
simplicity of expression." Small work clears the mind of
impedimenta and complexity--and sets higher ambition in motion.
"Out of clutter, find simplicity." (Albert Einstein)