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There was a time when Cleveland's art scene thrived, when artists worked in close proximity to each other and shared theories and techniques. They also studied abroad, mostly in Europe, and returned with new ideas and freshly honed skills.
West Technical High School teachers Jean and Paul Ulen epitomized that era. Twice during the 1920s they studied under distinguished drawing instructor Henry Tonks at the Slade School at the University College in London.
The Ulens' drawings, as well as the works by Tonks and several of their students, are currently on view at the Cleveland Artists Foundation in Drawn to Perfection: Jean and Paul Ulen and the Slade School Legacy in Cleveland . The exhibition is smartly curated, as it illustrates the Ulens' legacy, as well as their own development as artists. But it also shows that the Ulens — especially Jean — were art mavericks of their day, setting up clandestine life-drawing sessions for students at West Tech at a time when women were not permitted to render images of nude models. And while it was Paul who taught art majors (Jean was relegated to teaching the non-majors), Jean was so adept at drawing the human figure that at times it seems as if her subjects could walk off of the page and onto the gallery floor.
The human figure is timeless, and this is at the heart of the Ulens' life drawings.
Paul's drawings demonstrate a keen proficiency in rendering the human form. In works like Back view of a man, figures are statuesque and classically beautiful. But the sculptural quality of his drawings undermines the humanity of his subjects, making them seem rigid and lifeless. In later works, like his 1950s portrait studies of a young man, his model seems like a lifeless doll; the drawings lack any real depth or energy.
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It is the work of Jean Ulen that brings the exhibition to life. Unlike Paul's drawings, Jean's are not onlyabout the human form, they are about people — individuals with distinct personalities. The exhibition provides countless examples of poignant portraits of real people with unique features and life experiences. Man seated on a stool, a work created shortly after the Ulens' first trip to London, demonstrates Jean's instinctive ability to capture an individual's distinct character. Her subject's imperfect body is adeptly rendered, but Jean's attention is focused primarily on his facial features and expression; she captures a moment in the life of a thoughtful and perhaps troubled man. His eyes convey a sense of resigned melancholy, yet they meet the gaze of the viewer. The timelessness of Jean's drawings is not about the physical body. It is an acknowledgment of the complexities of the human condition.
In Jean's remarkable Young man drawing from around 1940, the artist renders a young man, perhaps one of her students, in a moment of intense concentration. But what is truly magical about the drawing is the way Jean captures the slight unease in her subject's face. She documents the self-consciousness he must have felt at being the focus of such close scrutiny. It is an interestingly contemporary expression, one all too recognizable in our age of amateur videography, in which many of our most ordinary life events are recorded for posterity.
It is serendipitous that
Drawn to Perfection is on view at a time when Cleveland's art
community is struggling to find support and garner respect among citizens
and civic leaders. The Ulens left Cleveland for short periods to study
in London, but they returned. Perhaps it was because they had something
to come back to.