Combatants

This drawing was included in a series of 13 drawings in a collection titled “arcana A heterogeneous collection of enigmatic drawings by Robert Winsett for the discriminating collector of potpourri.”

I’ve always liked this drawing of my dad’s a lot, partly because the subject choice is so unusual. You don’t really expect someone to draw a picture of swans fighting, I mean swans are supposed to be serene and lovely. They are the apex to which the ugly duckling aspires, not furious enemies. My father titled this “combatants” so the viewer would know, without a doubt, this was a serious encounter.

It might easily have been titled “Fury and Grace” as the swans still possess a sense of delicateness and calm self-possession even in the violent act of combat. I can see the power of muscles tensed in fierce exertion beneath the obviously “ruffled” feathers of anger. He captured that anger brilliantly by rendering those feathers thick and jagged and clearly uneven.

But then it took him only a few very delicate lines perfectly positioned in the drawing to elevate the otherwise clunky creatures back to their natural state of grace.

The drawing “Rex”, from the same series, is of a powerful lion and you can see that the power derives completely from the strength and boldness of the lines. No delicate grace in this one.