Covid has been great for drawing

Amid the greatly exaggerated reports of the death of painting issued and reissued over the course of the past century, nobody thought to check on the health of drawing, perhaps because what artists did in the privacy of their own studios was considered to be no one else’s business.

Drawing wasn’t a saleable commodity. Yes, Hockney’s portrait drawings attracted admiration, but most artists kept their scribbles to themselves. Then about 20 years ago, just after Saatchi’s 1997 Sensation exhibition seemed to have consigned all traditional art forms to the bin of history, it was noticed that drawing was alive and, if not kicking, showing unmistakable signs of continued health.

It may have been a reaction to Sensation — been there, done that, got the YBA T-shirt — but around the Millennium the world woke up to drawing. The Guild of St George founded by Ruskin launched a national Campaign for Drawing; the Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition was promoted to the Jerwood (now the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize); Prince Charles opened the Prince’s, now the Royal Drawing School; the Discerning Eye launched a Drawing Bursary; and the Drawing Room held its first Drawing Biennial. A generation after the closure of art school life rooms was blamed for taking drawing off life support, it was back on its feet.

How’s the patient progressing? The Drawing Room’s tenth Biennial is a chance to find out. A record number of international artists, known and emerging, have donated a total of 300 A4 drawings to this year’s edition, to be auctioned online in support of the Drawing Room’s move next year from the Elephant & Castle to permanent premises in Bermondsey. (Bids start at £300 and bidding closes on 5 July.)

While coronavirus has put other arts in a chokehold, it has been a shot in the arm for drawing.