Art Students' Anatomy

By Edmond J. Farris

For art students working with the human figure, this comprehensive study of the bones, muscles, and surface forms of the living body will be one of the most useful (and most used) additions they can make to their private libraries. More than 150 illustrations, mostly full-page photographs and labeled sketches of undraped male and female bodies, provide the reader with anatomical studies of unrivaled clarity and unquestioned accuracy.
After an introduction covering the proportions of the adult male, the adult female, and the infant at various ages, the author devotes 50 pages to the human skeletal system. Besides pictures and detailed drawings of the major bones of the body, he also includes x-rays showing the bone structure of the hand and foot and the movements of the shoulder, elbow, and knee joints.
A section on the muscular system follows, including reproductions of the remarkable Albinus engravings ("The most beautiful and among the most accurate anatomical figures ever published." — Charles Singer), 36 photographs and labeled sketches of living models, and seven drawings showing the attachments of muscles to the skeleton. The book concludes with a number of poses and action photographs illustrating surface anatomy in various actions such as dancing and throwing a ball.
This is one of the few and perhaps the best of those books that teach anatomy using chiefly living objects for their illustrative work. By doing so, it fills an urgent need, for most art students cannot afford living models or expensive courses in anatomy. Now, however, they can use this practical and inexpensive home-study course to achieve a clearer insight into the complicated mechanism of the human body, as simplified by Dr. Farris.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Aug 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486158105

Book preview

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Copyright © 1935, 1944 by Edmond J. Farris. All rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright Conventions.

This Dover edition, first published in 1961, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the second edition, published by J. B. Lippincott Company in 1935.

Standard Book Number: 486-20744-7

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: A62-8634

Manufactured in the United States of America

Dover Publications, Inc.

9780486158105

31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y 11501

TO MY MOTHER

PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to describe to art students in as simple a manner as possible the essential anatomy of the living body. In the study of anatomy, it is advisable for the student to master: first, the skeleton and its surface projections; second, the muscles and their surface projections; and third, the surface form as affected by various actions. The author hopes to assist the student in accomplishing this chiefly by illustrations, photographs of living models, and roentgenograms. Text is used only to emphasize the importance of illustrations.

Close observation of one’s self, as well as of others at work and at play will prove exceedingly beneficial in the mastery of anatomy. When a living model is available, the student should observe most carefully the details of the surface anatomy, and should train himself to do memory sketches of the model using these details as a premise to assist the expression of the artist.

Our great masters of art realized that a thorough understanding of anatomy was a necessary instrument in the portrayal of art, and Leonardo da Vinci, though known as an artist, merits the reputation of a great anatomist by reason of his accurate anatomical sketches and contributions to this subject.

In this book are reproductions of the great work of Siegfried Albinus, an anatomic illustrator of the early 18th century. These muscle and skeleton plates have been described by Dr. Charles Singer as the most beautiful and among the most accurate anatomical figures ever published. In order to have

Reviews for Art Students' Anatomy

[sylak_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I bought this book on the advise of Douglas R. Graves (in his book Life Drawing in Charcoal), as a low cost and simple anatomy book for the artist, and that it is.My own copy I purchased, second hand, for only £3.30, and it is an unabridged and unaltered reproduction of the second edition, shrunk down in dimension to almost a pocket book size with an updated colour photographic cover (although that is the only colour photograph in the book itself). The copyright information is not clear on the date of my copy, stating only:This Dover edition, first published in 1961...The book however appears, from clues in it's style of cover typeface, printed cover price of $4.50, as well as an ISBN number clearly printed, to be a post 1970's edition. If I were to take a guess I'd say late 1970s early 1980s.In the book, Edmond J. Farris has very wisely used as a basis for his book, the works of the great 18th century anatomical illustrator Siegfried Albinus which he used as a template to pose his models, which were then photographed by Roy M. Reeve (photographer at the Army Medical Museum), and in tern sketched by his wife L. Augusta Stroman Farris. The end result is living models assuming the position of the skinned corpses of 300 years hence.Typically for this prudish 1930s-40s book, the male model is photographed in a posing pouch and the publishers are even at times not adverse to pasting on hand drawn fig leaves where decency and moral decorum of the time demanded such precautions to be taken, lest the publishers run the risk of falling foul to the strict indecency laws of the time.The book boasts 158 illustrations (I counted!), there are also 71 photographs (although some are duplicated, or thumbnails too small to be of great use - namely the 'action photographs'). The full and half page photos are of reasonably good quality. I liked how the male and female photographs were placed so that the reader could easily flick back and forth between images to form a kind of primitive two step kineograph to better appreciate the important differences in structure between male and female forms, much as could be done with Albinus' illustrations.It was also a treat to find the famous American modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn depicted in a number of shots.There are also 9 specially taken roentgenograms (X-ray photographs) showing the relationship between skin density and the placements of the bones.The star of the show however are still Albinus' 300 year old anatomical illustrations beautifully engraved by Jan Wandelaar.The book guides you from the skeletal structure through to the muscles, then the surface form, in order to 'build' the figure. This method is in contrast to artists like Douglas R. Graves, who look at the mass approach, but I see the value in both ideals. Personally, I have gone with the mass approach myself, and am now working backwards to better understand the anatomy I am drawing, hopefully without having picked up too many faults.Overall, this is not a bad little book, and certainly far better than I thought it was going to be. I own many far more detailed books on anatomy for the artist; but this is one that I can stuff into my art bag as a quick and helpful guide in the art class.If I didn't own it, I would still buy it again because it is quick and easy to follow and won't bog you down either mentally nor physically. There is more than enough information for most people wanting to know more about what those lumps and bumps are beneath the skin so they can draw them with more confidence.This copy also includes: A (19 page) Catalog of Selected Dover Books in all Fields of Interest.