SKETCHY SIDE OF SPANISH MASTERS; RARE DRAWINGS POINT TO ARTISTS' DEVELOPING STYLE.

Byline: Phillip Zonkel Staff Writer

Mark McDonald's grin beams ``bravo.''

As curator in the J. Paul Getty Museum's department of drawings, he's ecstatic to showcase the latest exhibit, ``Juanes to Goya: Spanish Drawings 1560-1825,'' on display through Nov. 28.

``It's a small show, but at the same time an incredibly important show, because most drawing shows focus on Italian drawings,'' he says. ``The common misconception is that artists in Spain did not draw,'' McDonald says. ``It's a strange idea based on a few surviving drawings from big male artists. Drawings were never treasured and therefore not collected. In a sense, drawing in Spain is driven by function. After a drawing was transferred to a canvas or ceiling, it was thrown away.''

But some were spared the circular file. With works representing major artistic centers in Valencia, Andalusia and Castile, the 29-piece collection traces the transition of Spanish drawings from spiritual and church-related subjects to themes of satire and caricature.

``This exhibit is another way of saying, `The art history that we learned is only a fragment of a larger, so much more complex and so much more interesting mosaic,' '' says Selma Holo, director of museum studies at the University of Southern California.

For McDonald, the medium is more accessible.

``Drawings are more intimate and far more personal,'' he says. ``In all of them, they show artists thinking aloud on paper. It's a process, a work in progress. It's exciting.''

Here's what McDonald said about some of the highlights of the exhibition:

Jusepe de Ribera's ``Adoration of the Magi'' (about 1620).

``This is Ribera's earliest known work, and it indicates the aspects of his future drawing practice, quirky interpretations and brown ink. It's extraordinary, because it shows a turbaned attendant turning away from the Virgin. In all traditional Magi images, the three kings and their attendants always paid attention to the Virgin. Ribera has reinterpreted the story and shown people actually leaving the scene. I can't think of any other presentation of a subject in the same quirky way.''

Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra's ``Study of Four Male Heads'' (about 1660-1680).

``An incredibly important artist working in Andalusia, Castillo operated a large studio in Cordoba, where he was a major influence on his students and the general shape of artistic practice in Cordoba. Castillo produced many, many similar drawings of individual heads. They're certainly not portraits; they're character types. It's a drawing about the art of drawing. These four heads were produced as studies for engravings. In Spain, engravings were passed around the studio for students to practice from.''

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes' ``Contemptuous of the Insults'' (about 1803-1812).

``Goya was a revolutionary painter and the original modern artist of his period. Goya marks a point in Spanish drawing where things turn to satire, personal concerns, politics.

``The person scoffing stands for Spain's scoffing at the French invasion; the person scoffing them away also stands for Goya himself, possibly a self-portrait. The stunted French soldiers are shrunken to indicate their impotency. Goya ran the risk of being persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition and the French intruders, so he struck out on his own to forge new paths in engravings, etchings. But Goya also was quite streetwise. His images are often so hard to understand that his contemporaries could not pin him down to anything specific. He was too clever.''

Ribera's ``An Oriental Potentate Accompanied by His Halberd Bearer'' (1628).

``It's extraordinary for its employment of a carmine pink ink, which is actually made from the cochineal insect. The entire carcass is crushed to produce this pink color.

``All through his career, Ribera examined aspects of caricature and the grotesque. The artist is outstanding for his strange interpretations of his subjects. The small flag bearer is stunted. The strange bald head, pouting features, this mock formality of the oriental potentates. Ribera is one of the darkest draftsmen. He made many strange drawings, and no one actually knows what they're for - or their intended (recipient). In this period, most artists did paintings of virgins or saints. Ribera presents to us an entirely different angle, and they show the other side of artistic practice.''

The facts

What: ``Juanes to Goya: Spanish Drawings 1560-1825.''

Where: J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center, Brentwood.

When: Through Nov. 28. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Closed Mondays and major holidays.

Admission: Admission to the Getty Center is free. Parking is $5 per car; reservations are required. Visitors may also arrive by other means, such as walking, public transportation (MTA bus route 561 from the Valley or Westside and Santa Monica Big Blue Bus route 14), taxi or local shuttles. Call [phone].

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- 2) Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes' ``Contemptuous of the Insults,'' left, shows the artist's revolutionary way of depicting his subjects, and Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra's ``Study of Four Male Heads'' calls attention to the art of drawing.