Anatomy for the Artist [Hardcover]

Sarah Simblet (Author), John Davis (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2001

In "Anatomy for the Artist" acclaimed artist and academic Sarah Simblet unveils the extraordinary construction of the human body and celebrates its continuing prominence in Western Art today. Using superb specially commissioned photographs of male and female models together with historical and contempory works of art and her own illustrations, Sarah shows us how to look inside the human frame to map its muscle groups skeletal strength balance poise and grace.Selected drawings superimposed over photographs reveal fascinating relationships between external appearance and internal structure. Six drawing classes guide the reader to see the human body afresh offering techniques and attitudes that imagiatively show how to observe and draw the skeleton, head, ribcage, pelvis, hands, and feet. By investigating ten Masterworks the author shows the knowledge and ideas of different artists across tie ranging from Holbein's "Christ Entombed" to Edward Hopper's "Hotel Room". Each masterclass presents a photographed model set in the same pose so that anatomical comparisons can be made. Understanding anatomy is often the key to an artist's understanding and interpretation of the body. This imaginative modern reference book will enhance the drawing and painting techniques of artists and every level.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anatomy for the Artist is like having your own life-drawing studio in the privacy of your home. Carefully constructed photographs of the human form allow you to see the structure and function of the skeleton and main muscle groups. Six imaginative drawing lessons, each supported with photography, show how to portray the bones, head, rib cage, pelvis, hands, and feet in perspective, from different angles, both in still poses and in movement. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Sarah Simblet is an artist and academic specialising in anatomy. She has a studio in Oxford and holds the positions of Tutor in Drawing in the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford, and Visiting Lecturer in the Royal College of Art, London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dorling Kindersley (September 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751334413
• ISBN-13: 978-0751334418
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,995,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

118 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent photography. Average content., November 14, 2001

By 

Rico Lebrun - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Anatomy for the Artist (Hardcover)

This is an interesting book in that the photography is excellent. Do you like nude bodies that are in very good shape? This one has it in excess. As one who has studied artistic anatomy for over twenty years I own just about every book written on the subject. One of the things I appreciate are sources showing surface anatomy; with models that have muscle definition. The odd thing about this book is how much could have been done with it. There are about 7 or 8 transparencys that over lay the photos. All but one of these show the skeletal detail over a photo. When I am looking at the surface anatomy of a figure and trying to determine which muscles are which, I would rather have an overlay of the muscles than of the skeleton. This must have been the decision of an editor. The drawings depicting the muscles are good, no better than what has been done. Goldfinger's Human Anatomy for Artists or Richer's Artistic Anatomy are very hard to beat. The other odd note about this book is the bibliography. It's as though the items chosen were selected for their quirky nature and not their value as a source of information. Five stars for the photography, negative two stars for the anatomical content.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile anatomy book, July 31, 2003

By 

R. Johnson "Billionaire" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Anatomy for the Artist (Hardcover)

This book doesn't try to contain all the knowledge there is related to anatomy and drawing the human figure. That would take several volumes or more. It just does a few important things well. I think the main strength of this book is that it gives you an intuitive feeling for the human body's structure. It does a lot more than just list parts. It tells you how the body works, how the parts work together, and the nature of those parts. She gives you more scientific and historical information than other books generally do. The second strength is the large number of well-lit photographs of fit, lean, muscular models in many informative, useful poses. The models are pretty good for seeing the contours of muscles, bones, and connective tissues. I think the inclusuion of a few body builders might've been good too. The latter chapters of the book deal with poses and the body in motion. They include many photographs of models. I appreciated this, and it's something not a lot of anatomy books have.
As for the overlays, I didn't think they were all that important. As for the drawings of the muscles and bones, they were useful and good, but they could've been better. I would've prefered some sort of smoothly shaded renderings instead of scratchy pen & ink drawings. It would also have been nice to have the muscles in different colors so they'd be easier to differentiate. Although vellum is nice, it tends to warp from humidity and it's not transparent enough. Therefore it would've been better to make the overlays out of plastic.
While this isn't the be-all, end-all of anatomy books, I think it is one of the better books to include in your anatomy library. I have several other great anatomy books besides this one.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a excellent general reference, October 27, 2002

By 

drollere (Sebastopol, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Anatomy for the Artist (Hardcover)

this is really a coffee table anatomy book, as it is centered on john davis's spectacular color photographs of physically pleasing young models, artsy anatomical illustrations of bones and muscle groups, a gallery of studio poses, and kewl design touches. (the translucent muscle diagrams are especially neat: they fold over matching full color photographs of head, limbs and torso, though the book bindery doesn't always line up the two exactly.) a bonus is the unique and interesting introductory history of anatomical studies. the coverage is broad stroke -- focusing on large muscle groups, or anatomical units such as the hand, not on individual bones or muscles. my disappointments include the appallingly skimpy treatment of facial emotions, the breezy anatomical descriptions (one gets a poor idea of individual muscle form and action), the narrow sampling of model physical types (all are gorgeous), and the fatuous gallery of simblet sketches, who likes to draw bodies piled on top of each other. for practical work, i much prefer eliot goldfinger's masterful "encyclopedia" of human anatomy for the artist, but simblet's book is easier to use as a quick or general reference and also makes a provocative browse for your dinner guests. best is to own both, and go to goldfinger if your question requires authoritative, in depth information.