And when Michael managed to carve some time between his numerous work projects, they studied the art of drawing.ĭavid Nordahl: “We practiced doing certain things with pencil and colored pencil, but Michael was a perfectionist and so he would get angry at himself if what he was trying to do didn’t work very well. They visited art galleries and private exhibitions together. Nordahl became not only Jackson’s favorite living artist (Michelangelo led the historic rating), but also his trusted advisor and confidant who designed Neverland carnival rides and joined family outings. Nordahl declined initially due to high workload, but they soon became friends, and later Nordahl would leave all other projects to become Jackson’s portraitist and teach him the basics of drawing. In 1988, Jackson saw one of Nordahl’s paintings in Steven Spielberg’s office and called the artist to find out whether he gave drawing lessons. David Nordahl, one of the artists from whom Jackson commissioned artwork for his Neverland ranch, shared memories about his relationship with the singer. Michael drawing Peter Pan at Helmsley Palace Hotel, New York CityIt is not known exactly with how many tutors the singer studied the art of drawing. And this … I really enjoy the picture of this woman, and I asked him who it was, and I could not remember the answer, but I had the opportunity to present these pictures to Jermaine Jackson, and he told me this looked like one of the tutors they’d go on tour with, when they weren’t in school, they had a tutor, and this looked like her.” I had him sign it, and he just picked up a crayon and signed ‘Michael Jackson’. So I got home, and my Dad said that should probably be signed, and he sent me back to school.
I asked him one day, ‘I really love that Charlie Chaplin drawing, can I have that one?’ And he said, ‘Sure, go ahead and take it home and enjoy it’, but he didn’t sign it. I would watch him make these drawings, and then he’d ball them up and throw them away. One of Michael’s classmates, Lori Shapiro: “I had the opportunity to be in school with him, tenth grade, that was the school in Encino with about ninety students, so I took an art class with him. But he had a natural talent for it, Michael did.» So I thought maybe he might have picked it up from him. And I can’t say too much more about him, only his father - his father was an artist, too. And when he was even in school, he would draw pictures, and they took one of his drawings and put it on the front of the yearbook. He loved paintings, he loved water colors.
Katherine Jackson: «Michael loved art a lot. They panicked in fear of punishment, but Diana didn’t scold them, she only told them to clean up the mess. According to Michael, one day they got caught up in painting and accidentally stained the white carpet in Diana’s living room. When the Jackson boys were staying at Diana Ross’ house, she encouraged them to develop their artistic skills. In his autobiography «Moonwalk,» the singer remembers that he really liked drawing when he was a child. The first mention of Michael’s drawing talent goes back to the Jackson 5 times. The collection of his drawings is valued in millions of dollars today. And very few outside his devoted fan base know that, besides being talented in music and dance, he also had impressive drawing skills. Most people know Michael Jackson primarily as a talented stage performer.