Theatrical bodies: Life drawing workshop
Enrol
| Standard: | £40 |
| Concessions: | £36 |
Please book a ticket to attend this course which will take place in the Roden Centre for Creative Learning.
Tickets include entry to the National Gallery. Please arrive in good time to access the building and find the event.
Bookings close 10 minutes before the event begins.
Concessions are for full-time students, jobseekers, and disabled adults.
This event is open for House and Exhibition Members priority booking until Thursday, August 21, 2025.
About
Explore drama, the human figure and composition in this life drawing workshop inspired by the exhibition ‘Edwin Austin Abbey: By the Dawn’s Early Light’.
Working from both male and female life models, you’ll begin with short tonal studies in chalk, pastel and Conté, capturing gesture and form of the human figure through a series of dynamic poses. These tonal studies will form the foundation for a more developed composition later in the session.
Led by artist and tutor Anne Noble-Partridge of London Drawing, you’ll be guided to incorporate your figure studies into a larger, expressive work, taking inspiration from Abbey’s beautifully realised tondo composition and chalk studies for ‘The Hours’, the celestial fresco that adorns the ceiling of the Representatives Chamber in the Pennsylvania State Capitol.
Throughout the workshop, you’ll experiment with a range of materials including tonal and tracing paper, working across layers and surfaces. Traditional life drawing techniques will be combined with experimental approaches such as collage and compositional editing, encouraging you to create your own theatrical, visually layered work.
All materials are provided, and you’ll take your finished work home with you. A handout with further resources will be sent in advance. No previous experience is necessary.
Your tutor
Anne Noble-Partridge is founder and director of London Drawing and has been teaching life drawing and painting in a variety of formats for the past 20 years. She has taught life drawing at Central St Martins and regularly teaches at Imperial College and London College of Communication as well as running a wide range of life drawing and painting classes and workshops across London. She began her career teaching contemporary life drawing classes for six years at Tate Modern and since then has worked at many galleries and institutions including the Royal Academy, Tate Britain and the Wellcome Trust. Her practice often involves theatrical sets and collaborating with models to create characters and improvised costume. Expect fun use of materials with lots of focus on one to one tuition.