BARCSAY Jeno - Anatomy for Artists

"The artist, when creating, captures only the details of movement and changes in the human postural system that are visible to the naked eye. Therefore, he should first of all familiarize himself with the skeletal and muscular systems, since the shapes and function of muscles and bones are visible on the surface of the body or just below it. The study of the heart, liver and lungs will enrich his general knowledge, but will not affect his representation of the human body. Therefore, 'Anatomy for the Artist' does not deal with internal organs. Some blood vessels appear on the surface of the body, but it would be pointless to discuss their properties in our 'Anatomy'.

The bones and muscles of the human body form a very complex, three-dimensional system. A small change in position can, acting on the entire system, change its balance and shape. With this in mind, I have tried - using meticulous description - not to overlook the interrelationships between the various parts of the body. I used drawings for this purpose, considering them better than photographs, because drawings precisely can provide many details that would be impossible to depict in a photograph.

This book deals with the body of a healthy adult individual. Its layout follows the order of my lectures at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts. Wanting to use historical sources as much as possible, I came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to bring together the works I mainly used in my Anatomy. Thus, when analyzing movements, Mollier's well-known book Plastische Anatomie (1924) is particularly valuable. As for the systematic description of the skeleton and muscular system, much is contributed by Richer's Anatomie artistique (1890); this text is the main source of any work on anatomy for artists published in our time. In determining certain details, I have used the following textbooks: Anatomischer Atlas, compiled by Toidt-Hochstetter (1948), Sobotta's Atlas der descriptiven Anatomie des Menschen (1903-1907), Kollman's Plastische Anatomie (1928), Mihalkovics' Textbook of Human Anatomy and Histology (1898, in Hungarian), Krause's Descriptive Human Anatomy (1881, in Hungarian), as well as the experiences of K. Tellyesniczky and the well-known Hungarian painter Bertalan Szekety. The study of Systematic Anatomy (1951, in Hungarian) by Ferenc Kiss, professor of anatomy, was of great help to me in compiling the theoretical sections. Heartfelt thanks are due to many painters and sculptors for their friendly advice and information." (Author)

Translation, W. Brodzki, M. Brodzki
Medical revision, B. Somogyi
Scientific editing of the Polish version, S. Goździewski

Published by Ossolineum, Wroclaw 1988.

Canvas binding, wrapper, cardboard case, 33 cm high, 320 [21] pages.
Illustrative tables on 140 unnumbered pages.

Volume in very nice condition, with minor rubbing, edgewear and edgewear to the paper wrapper.