Heinrich Jacoby #2

Is everyone an artist? This year, we're making the acquaintance of several historical figures whose work centred on that question. In the last session, we learned about the life of the remarkable scholar and researcher, Heinrich Jacoby (1889–1964). This month's webinar, and the next one, will discuss his work – or at least, the tiny part of it that I've been able to grasp so far.

I will focus on his work with drawing. An important clarification ... Jacoby didn't teach drawing, so much as he created conditions for learning through the practice of drawing.

Jacoby's research critiqued the idea that talent or giftedness is the province of only certain people. Music was central to his work, but his approach included giftedness in all fields, in the arts and beyond.

For Jacoby, the practice of drawing reveals what we might call functioning. We might also call it performance: the way you do something, your approach. This isn’t just about achievement, though it could be. The whole organism, to use Jacoby’s term, was implicated in this process – including the relationship with the senses. In that context, artistic practice becomes a sort of laboratory for working with the whole person.

This session will include memories from Jacoby's students as well as his own writings, and will take us down some impressive rabbit-holes including a look at the work of Johannes Itten (1888-1967) as well as the of Friedrich Fröbel (1782 –1852).