The Intimate Eye: The Drawings of Burton Silverman
In his introduction, Burt Silverman presents as good a reason for drawing as we're ever likely to read: to discover the self. The enterprise, he says, "Is not a one shot deal, since selfhood is, like everything else, in a constant state of change with subtle and unnoticed adjustments to the external world. But tracking that selfhood and using images that somehow strive to articulate it, is one of the true mysteries and true joys of making art. Drawing is the immediate and intuitive start of that process."     Silverman possesses equal facility with chalk and charcoal as he does with words. The forty-seven black and white drawings that, with the artist's comments about each, the book holds are exquisite representations of mood and gesture. Most appear against toned backgrounds that allow for white highlights that add emphasis to the modeling and more impact to the drawings. The subjects include professional models, students and friends of the artist, and Silverman's wife, son and daughter. The models appear in a variety of outfits - shawls, coats, broad brimmed hats, ties and tank tops - to no clothes at all. In all cases, Silverman shows himself to be a master of form and subtle expression revelatory of, if not personality, the sitter's mood in the moment. Most often that mood is contemplative, since the sitter has nothing to do but think.     Silverman's comments, scrawled legibly opposite each reproduction, are not intended as instruction. They deal with the sitter's identity, the materials used, and the artist's feelings about both the process and result. Sometimes Silverman regrets not having used graphite instead of charcoal - or vice versa. In one instance he deplores "repetitious forms...and a large expanse of thigh that is downright boring." (One wonders if the model will read his assessment and take umbrage.) The comments tell us less about the drawing than the artist's thinking - about his models, materials, and efforts. And that makes them eminently worth reading.     The Intimate Eye is printed on high quality thick paper and finely bound. Holding and looking at it is a rich sensual experience. It will appeal to all lovers of excellent drawing and further enhance Silverman's deserved reputation as one of America's best living artists.--Gary Michael--Gary Michael, Bloomsbury Review 2007The greatest artists have declared that their talented drawing is the product of constant and repeated exercise, often over many years. Masterpieces are never made by accident or by the undisciplined. This volume of drawings by Burton Silverman ( The Intimate Eye) is a case in point. Throughout his long career Silverman has taught and inspired successive generations of art students through time-honored practices of patient observation and finely honed technical skills.   The process demands open-mindedness, integrity, sincerity, and a particular kind of humility in capturing the essence of the model. It is only when the artist adopts a reverential approach to the model that he or she is able to first identify, and then commit a true response to paper. Consequently Burton's work never stoops to decorative effects or seductive mark-making. The honesty of his portrayals sets his work apart as a sincere exploration of the human condition, model by model and subject by subject - by one who is also human and intrinsically invested in the process. Burton Silverman is a master of this necessarily intimate process and he understands the subtle interactions by which he "captures the likeness" of his subjects. --Herman du Toit, Brigham Young Museum of ArtHandsomely bound and elegantly over-sized, The Intimate Eye offers up a gallery of Silverman's portrait studies. Silverman, the consummate humanist, rarely disappoints - truly a collector's item of some of his most "intimate" takes on the ever-compelling human visage. --Art Times, December 2006