How life drawing got hip

Life drawing has made its way out of art schools and fusty evening classes and gained a certain popular (dare we say, hipster) appeal. As part of our week-long Body special, we speak to tutors from London, New York and Berlin about the surge in its popularity

When travelling to other cities these days, I use platforms like AirBnb, MeetUp and so on to find things to do: the millennial cliché. What is striking however, is how similar the kinds of activities are on offer in cities across the world. Yoga lessons, bike rides, craft beer tasting and cheese-making sessions: you name it, most cities will have them. And on this list now are life drawing classes.

Whereas once life drawing might have seemed the domain of the aged amateur artist, something for the kids to snigger their way through before decamping to the pub, it’s now – along with so many other once ‘artisan’ activities – become hip. Here I speak to tutors from London, New York and Berlin about their experiences with teaching life drawing, to help demystify the surge in its popularity.