Edmond J. Farris

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.… (mehr)