Reducing Detail and Aerial Perspective

One of my students is very interested in drawing architectural subjects.  We have been working for awhile now on perspective and drawing buildings.  His latest project is a graphite drawing of the Manhattan bridge and the skyline of New York behind it.  He was asking about having to draw every single window in that skyline and I was teaching him about pulling detail, that is, reducing the detail to create a greater sense of aerial perspective. 

This reminded me of two artists' work.  I saw a retrospective of Antonio Lopez Garcia's work at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao, Spain on a trip in 2011.  He is a master Madrid Realist, born in 1936.  He was an academic painter and realist even during the times several decades ago when those pursuits were heavily derided.  This is one of his paintings that was in the retrospective:

View of Madrid from Capitan Haya, 1987-94, Antonio Lopez Garcia, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia

It was huge, wall sized.  You could see where he had drawn the horizon line and the holes (vanishing points) that he used to work out his perspective lines.

The second artist is Raphaella Spence.  I have been following her work for a few years and have always loved it, but have never had the opportunity to see her work in person.

New York, Raphaella Spence

Her paintings are also quite large. 

Both artists' work appears photographic when it is shrunk down in a picture, or when you are viewing it from about 20 feet.  Extraordinary work, like you are there, hovering in a helicopter.  But, when you get close to the work, something cool happens (at lease with Antonio Lopez Garcia's work, and I suspect also Raphaella Spence's work).  You realize all those details in the back are not really details at all.  They are flat planes of pastel color.  Contrasted with the painting in the foreground, they create the photorealistic look.  The foreground is painted with a large amount of detail, including in the case of Garcia's work above, mortar lines.  But it is just the crucial detail--just the right amount of detail to set up the contrast with the background.  Knowing precisely how much detail to include to create this look is the mark of a true master.

To start my students on their journey of learning this skill, I always tell them to paint only what they can see.  Do not try to add detail that you can not see.  Do not move closer to the subject to see better.  If you can't see it from where you are, it should not be included.  This is one of those skills that cannot be learned from working from photographs, you must practice from life to learn it.