Life Drawing is not so much a unique system of drawing the human form as it is a new way of conceptualizing it. To draw the figure, the artist must "have an idea of what the figure to be drawn is doing" -- he must "sense the nature and condition of the action, or inaction." In this book, Mr. Bridgman, who for nearly 50 years lectured and taught at the Art Students League of New York, explains in non-technical terms and illustrations in hundreds of finely rendered anatomical drawings how best to find the vitalizing forces in human forms and how best to realize them in drawing.
Mr. Bridgman begins by examining movement. After abstracting the main masses of the body -- head, chest, and hips -- into their rough geometrical equivalents, he gives complete instructions for building a simple model which mounts these masses on wire. By manipulating this scale model, the student may observe how these masses move in space and into what relationships such movement brings them.
Once the student understands how the human form moves, the author tackles the actual problems of drawing the human figure in motion. He first covers simple drawing and building of the figure, then balance, rhythm, turning or twisting, wedging, passing and locking, and the more complex relationship of the masses -- distribution, light and shade, mouldings (concave and convex), proportion and how to measure it, and movable masses. From here instruction turns to specific areas of the anatomy; the head and features, including the neck; the torso, front and back views; the abdominal arch; the shoulder girdle; the upper limbs, hands, and fingers; and the lower limbs, thigh and leg, knee, and finally foot. Every point of instruction and principle is illustrated in one of nearly 500 of Mr. Bridgman's own "life" drawings.
There is no student nor serious artist, either amateur or professional, who cannot profit greatly from Bridgman's instruction. Like his famous anatomy course at the Art Students League, it is likely to vitalize your work with the human form.
For more than a generation, Gertrude Stein's Paris home at 27 rue de Fleurus was the center of a glittering coterie of artists and writers, one of whom was Pablo Picasso. In this intimate and revealing memoir, Stein tells us much about the great man (and herself) and offers many insights into the life and art of the 20th century's greatest painter.
Mixing biological fact with artistic and aesthetic comments, she limns a unique portrait of Picasso as a founder of Cubism, an intimate of Appollinaire, Max Jacob, Braque, Derain, and others, and a genius driven by a ceaseless quest to convey his vision of the 20th century. We learn, for example, of the importance of his native Spain in shaping Picasso's approach to art; of the influence of calligraphy and African sculpture; of his profound struggle to remain true to his own vision; of the overriding need to empty himself of the forms and ideas that welled up within him.
Stein's close relationship with Picasso furnishes her with a unique vantage point in composing this perceptive and provocative reminiscence. It will delight any admirer of Picasso or Gertrude Stein; it is indispensable to an understanding of modern art.
The author shares her observations on date rape, sexual harassment, the decline of education and culture, and other key issues
The lecturer traces the historical development of attitudes toward the arts over the past 150 years, suggesting that the present is a period of cultural liquidation, nothing less than the ending of the modern age that began with the Renaissance.
Mary Cassatt's paintings and prints have long been treasured as some of the finest examples of Impressionist art. A rebel by the Victorian standards of her time, Mary Cassatt moved from the art schools of staid Philadelphia to the boulevards of Paris, where the young Impressionist movement was flourishing. Degas, her friend and mentor, encouraged her involvement in the new art movement.
Cassatt's luminous, observant, and innovative works-chiefly interiors with women and children-helped define Impressionism and have been compared to Raphael's paintings for their beauty and dignity. Frank Getlein, noted art critic and historian, has selected 72 of Cassatt's finest works, each reproduced here in full color. His accompanying text relates the intimate details of her life to her paintings while clearly defining her relation to fellow artists and her place in modern art. The publication of this book marks the first time that so many of Cassatt's paintings and prints, some rarely seen by American audiences, have been made available at a popular price.
0-8133-1027-X the Soviet Nationality Reader: the Disintegration in Context
An illustrated study of the life and art of the noted Impressionist traces Renoir's career from his early struggles to his triumphant later years and discusses his stylistic, technical, and topical contributions to art.
Looks at a variety of beads produced around the world, discusses their religious and social aspects, and describes beaded clothing in primitive societies.
Every material has an active presence and every material is susceptible to change. The task of the sculptor is to understand the natural properties of a chosen material, to know in the process of creation how best to work with, or against, its characteristics. In this generously illustrated studio manual, sculptor Oliver Andrews takes a new approach to sculpture, focusing on how the innate assertiveness of materials affects the complex act of making a sculpture.
