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Aug 7, 2020

Art Notes: Anatomy for Artists—Bringing the Esoterica within Reach

Robert Beverly Hale • George Bridgman • Ron Lemen • Joumana Medlej • Stan Prokopenko

Anatomy Books on My Shelf • Reference Works Useful to Have on Hand When Studying Anatomy


Pencil drawing of the frontal bone of a human skull, with notes
A study of the frontal bone of a human skull

SO OFTEN ALONG THE WAY, I've read books or seen instructional videos in which the author or instructor seemed to give a kind of dismissive wave of the hand when it came to artistic anatomy. The teacher would:


(1) mention that the student should be able, and is expected, to find knowledge of anatomy elsewhere, but without indicating sources, . . .


(2) say that the student is expected to, and should already, have that knowledge, but without stating the components of that body of knowledge or how it would have been reliably built up, or . . .


(3) proceed on the assumption that the student already has this knowledge—a Catch-22.


Hints like “read Bridgman” or “draw from live models a lot” are occasionally thrown in, although neither method is fully useful without certain basic understandings.


Consequently, even in this late phase of life I’ve still had to continue the process of learning artistic anatomy. Fortunately, I’m well on my way at long last—I’ve finally identified a core of useful foundational teachings that complement and reinforce each other.


I share the following short list of teachers and resources in case their insights can help you streamline your own process as well.


Robert Beverly Hale


Among other distinctions, Robert Beverly Hale (1901–1985) was widely respected for his knowledge of artistic anatomy.


Videos: “Artistic Anatomy” Lecture Series


This series of ten lectures Hale gave at the Art Students League of New York on the subject of artistic anatomy, recorded in black-and-white in the 1970s, is now available online. And although the recording quality is degraded—most noticeably the “blown out” first section of the Shoulder Girdle (Part 1) lecture, where the writing on the whiteboard is difficult to discern—all of the lectures are nevertheless gold, and well worth watching.


Lecture 5: The Shoulder Girdle (Part 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrlI1Sgkpms

Lecture 6: The Shoulder Girdle (Part 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3jPmEyyTuA

Lecture 10: The Head & Features https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNog0L7TtQM


Books


An excellent companion to the above is Hale's book Master Class in Figure Drawing. Although in it he covers the same general subject matter, he explores it a completely different way, and you'll find lots of nuggets in the book which aren't found in the videos.


Master Class in Figure Drawing

by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Cole

Watson-Guptill Publications, 1985

ISBN 0-8230-0224-1


One of my favorite passages from it, for example, is on page 53 (under Knee—Muscles—Front View), about neophytes: “They are copying exactly every detail they see. It is very possible that the school’s cat is sleeping on the skylight with perhaps a couple of kittens, and that is casting a shadow across the model’s rib cage. That black shape is dutifully recorded by beginners. They may see an appendicitis scar that the model got some years ago[,] and that goes into the drawing. And the sunburn on the top of the legs goes in. They look at their picture and say, ‘Do you think I have any talent?’”


Of course, Hale doesn’t leave it there but, as always, continues encouragingly. “The mistakes in the drawing are not very grave,” he says, and goes on to show how to think differently about what’s in front of our eyes vis-à-vis having artistic vision.


He emphasizes the importance of learning “landmarks”; developing a “secret figure,” an internal visual reference that allows the artist to see even what isn't visible—because he or she knows what's supposed to be there; and lighting the figure according to artistic preference rather than, as with the cat and kittens on the skylight, according to happenstance.


Related or referenced works include:

Albinus on Anatomy (Dover Anatomy for Artists)

Watson-Guptill Publications, 1979

Dover edition, 1988

ISBN-13: 978-0486258362

ISBN-10: 048625836X

Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters

by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Cole

Watson-Guptill Publications, 1977


Artistic Anatomy

by Dr. Paul Richer (translated by Robert Beverly Hale)

Watson Guptill Publications, 1971

Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters

by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Cole

Watson-Guptill Publications, 1977


George Bridgman

George Bridgman was one of Robert Beverly Hale’s teachers at the Art Students League of New York. Unfortunately, no recordings of his own live presentations are available, and his books are essentially a loving compilation of whatever could be gathered by his students and colleagues; they are not cohesive writings formed under his own direction during his lifetime.


Of the various Bridgman books brought out posthumously under his name, this one appears to be the most comprehensive:


Bridgman’s Complete Guide to Drawing from Life

by George B. Bridgman (edited by Howard Simon)

Sterling Publishing, 1952

SBN 8069-5000-5

SBN 806905001-3

My Twelfth Printing hardcover volume is from 1973; many other printings have followed.

Ron Lemen


Ron Lemen (lemenaid.com/about/) does a wonderful job of elucidating George Bridgman’s work. For the first time, I was able to take the above book (Bridgman’s Complete Guide to Drawing from Life) off my shelf and make sense of what I was looking at.


An important element of that new clarity comes from the historical context Lemen provides for the body of illustrations that appear in Bridgman’s books.


Further, Lemen also shows some of the original book illustrations next to colored-in copies, which helps distinguish the parts as drawn. This is particularly helpful in the visual analogies where Bridgman represents human mechanisms as actual mechanical moving parts.


Video


How to Study from the Bridgman Book and More

by Ron Lemen


This video includes the following sections (Bridgman page numbers here match the video’s illustrations):

(1) Skeletal Design (pp. 175, 180)

(2) Muscle Design (pp. 152, 181, 183)

(3) Planes of the Figure (pp. 150, 201, 210-211)

(4) Draw Through with Cross Sections (pp. 56, 172, 177, 262)

(5) Rendering the Forms (pp. 163, 176)

(6) Rhythm and Flow (pp. 39, 40, 41, 55, 149)

(7) The Human Machine (pp. 118, 140, 171, 206, 209)

(8) How to Learn from the Book (p. 186)


Joumana Medlej


Joumana Medlej is an accomplished artist and teacher (http://majnouna.com/cv/) who explores artistic anatomy from an entirely different angle. Her lessons are full of valuable insights that animators and cartoonists, especially, may find useful. Her tutorials include exceptionally comprehensive and practical sets of guidelines for getting different body types’ proportions right, and for conveying facial expressions, for example.


Videos: “Human Anatomy Fundamentals” Tutorials


Stan Prokopenko


Artist Stan Prokopenko (proko.com) has done a really useful survey of different human-proportion systems—those of Robert Beverly Hale, Dr. Paul Richer, and Andrew Loomis—and makes them available in poster form (proko.com/store/, gumroad.com/l/hDIvv) for comparison and reference. He also offers a couple of excellent tutorials on human proportions:


Videos: “Human Proportions”

• Richer[’s] Average Figures youtube.com/watch?v=OyWHmxFGVK4

• Cranial Units—Robert Beverly Hale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJMoplyGboI


Other Anatomy Books on My Shelf


You can find good deals on books like these at bookfinder.com, or scour your local library’s used-book sales for them when you can.


Anatomy for Artists

by Reginald Marsh

Dover Publications, 1970

ISBN 0-486-22613-1


Anatomy for the Artist: A Comprehensive Guide to Drawing the Human Body

edited by Sara Yelling

Parragon Books, 2002

ISBN 978-1-4075-1634-9

Anatomy for the Artist: The Dynamics of Human Form

by Tom Flint and Peter Stanyer

Barnes & Noble Books, 2002

ISBN 0-7607-2524-1

Anatomy: A Complete Guide for Artists

by Joseph Sheppard

Dover Publications, 1975

ISBN 0-486-27279-6


Art Students' Anatomy

by Edmond J. Farris

Dover Publications, 1961

ISBN [0-]486-20744-7


An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists

by Fritz Schider

Dover Publications, 1957

ISBN 0-486-20241-0


An Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist

by Stephen Rogers Peck

Oxford University Press, 1982

ISBN 978-0-19-503095-2


Drawing the Human Body: An Anatomical Guide

by Giovanni Civardi

Sterling Publishing, 2001

ISBN 0-8069-5891-X


Eyewitness Books: Skeleton

by Steve Parker

Alfred A. Knopf, 1988

ISBN 0-394-89620-3


Handbook of Anatomy for Art Students

by Arthur Thomson

Dover Publications, 1964

ISBN 0-486-21163-0


How to Draw the Human Figure: An Anatomical Approach

by Louise Gordon

Penguin Books, 1979

ISBN 0-14-046477-8


Human Anatomy for Artists

by András Szunyoghy and György Feher

Ullman Publishing, 2007

ISBN 978-3-8331-4551-3


Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy

by Christopher Hart

Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000

ISBN 0-8230-2497-0


The Human Figure: An Anatomy for Artists

by David K. Rubins

Viking Press, 1971

Library of Congress No. 53-10710


Strength Training Anatomy (Third Edition)

by Frédéric Delavier

Human Kinetics, 2010

ISBN 13: 978-0-7360-9226-5

ISBN 10: 0-7360-9226-9


Reference Works Useful to Have on Hand When Studying Anatomy


Human Anatomy (Third Edition)

by Frederic H. Martini, Michael J. Timmons, and Michael P. McKinley

Prentice Hall, 2000

ISBN 0-13-010011-0 (hardcover)

Mine cost $3.95 used. This great big book, used in nursing programs, is a good medical-anatomy reference.


Gray's Anatomy: The Classic Collector's Edition

by Henry Gray

Crown Publishers, 1977

ISBN 0-517-22365-1 (jacketed edition)

ISBN 0-517-65293-5 (deluxe edition)

Dictionary by Merriam-Webster https://www.merriam-webster.com/

(or any other good dictionary with full etymologies, to help you remember Latin and Greek roots)

Online Etymology Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com/

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