A delightful collection of sumptuous pencil figure drawings of the male nude by artist Greg Fox, (best known for being the artist/writer of the syndicated comic strip "Kyle's Bed & Breakfast"). Drew Danvers, a popular character in the comic strip, is the male figure depicted in these drawings, although he's never before been seen in such detail and full-frontal state of undress as he is throughout this book. The pencil drawings are impressively reproduced, (many look as if they are the actual original penciled artwork), and are quite worthy of framing. In fact, included in the book is a helpful guide for page removal along with framing instructions. Also included is a background story of the Drew Danvers character, charting his humble beginnings growing up on a peach orchard in Alabama through his arrival and dramatic storyline at Kyle's B&B, (with a number of panels from the comic strip). And there's even a 3-page "message" from Drew Danvers himself, along with his Mama's Alabama peach pie recipe You certainly don't need to know a thing about "Kyle's B&B" to enjoy this book... it's for anyone who has a fondness for quality, classical style figure drawings of the male nude.

Do you remember the last time you were intimate with someone for the first time? You know - the last time you saw the uncovered body of a specific woman for the first time. Remember what it was like to "explore her" like you'd just discovered the beauty of the female body for the first time? Come discover "girl-next-door" Jessica for the first time. Come explore every inch of her decidedly female form...bring back memories of someone you've explored before. Linger in those feelings Author/photographer Gary Melton has captured that experience through his images, and placed them on the pages of Exploring Jessica: An Artistic Exploration of One Female Form. Gary's work is all about capturing light and shadow so that a photograph's two dimensions appear to be three. It's also about accentuating a woman's natural beauty, while still giving you hints of her sensuality. ** This is the Standard Edition **

This book of surrealistic ink drawings and poetic verse is an imagined retelling of the legend of Lilith With The Long Hair. Lilith, according to Jewish biblical lore, was the first wife of Adam, and was cast out of Eden for refusing to submit to Adam, instead of becoming his equal. She was then condemned by God to forever seduce mortal men in their sleep, and the products of these nocturnal unions were demons, given birth by Lilith, and consigned to populate Hell. Many men up to this day have met with their own Lilith, and the demons created by that haunting encounter will always reside in the darker corners of their memories, posing as twisted travesties of their ideal woman. The drawings within this book are attempts to give visual form to those travesties. Many will be grotesque, some may be humorous, and a few may even be beautiful. But the vividness of their character will only be as keen as one's memory of Lilith With The Long Hair.

A lively, colorful figure drawing instruction book that encourages aspiring illustrators to work in ink and watercolor to create quick, confident renderings of diverse, contemporary people.

While today's illustrators work primarily in ink and watercolor, figure drawing instruction still tends to emphasize work in pencil. Commercial illustrator Kagan McLeod offers an approach to figure and portrait drawing more in keeping with today's preferred tools and techniques, one that focuses on cultivating spontaneity, energy, and confidence by providing exercises for brush work in ink and watercolor. By breaking figure and portrait drawing into the three major aspects of line, tone, and color and recommending time limits for each exercise, McLeod encourages working fast and fearless, rather than worrying about getting your figures just right. Filled with numerous illustrative examples of diverse, modern people, Draw People Every Day reflects practical, applicable techniques to get you drawing the people you see in the world around you with speed and proficiency.

"Human Proportions for Artists" discusses human proportions and includes profuse illustrations and tables of about 120 representative human measurements of both male and female figures in inch and metric dimensions for comparison from heroic size to 1/12 life size with 10 sizes in between. This 192 page abridged version for print-on-demand is slightly fewer pages than the first edition (which is still available in spiral bound at $38, as well as hard cover at $58). This book is of particular interest to students and serious amateurs. Chapters on: Historic Review of Human Proportions; Comparative and Relative Proportions; Anatomic Ratio Measurements in Human Proportions; Features of Hands and Feet; plus Symmetry and Dynamic Symmetry.

"Drawing the Human Body: The Art of Figure Construction" is a book that no artist should be without. It touches a very important note in the art of figure drawing, basing the reason for its method of instruction on the idea that the beginner should be instructed in drawing the figure as a whole before studying detached parts; that the time employed in making strokes should be limited; that it is easier to draw the figure in action than half action; and that the action of the body may be expressed in nearly every instance by two main lines. "This book is intensely interesting, full of splendid illustrations, and is designed primarily for high schools and colleges, but is also invaluable to students studying from the model in the life class." - School Arts Magazine

Figure studies of 12 female professional nude models taken over a 4 year period. The beauty of a dozen women is brought out in both indoor and outdoor settings. Whoever designed the female human body did one heck of a job, didn't they? Artists of all types - painters, sculptors, photographers and others - have been attempting to show us their vision of it for thousands of years. It's been done so many times, by so many people - wouldn't you think that someone would have finally created the perfect rendition by now? No one has done it yet, nor will anyone ever do it. We have always been fascinated by the female human form (and we always will be). Inside this book are a few examples of author/photographer Gary Melton's vision of the most popular subject matter for artists since the beginning of time. Gary's work is all about capturing light and shadow so that a photograph's two dimensions appear to be three. It's also about accentuating women's natural beauty, while still giving you subtle hints about their sensuality. Come look "through Gary's eyes" and see what he sees. Give your eyes a treat. ** This is the Standard Edition **

In the 1920's, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands were among the world's last wild places. Largely unmapped and inhabited by headhunters and cannibals, these jungle islands of the Coral Sea captured the popular imagination as examples of the unknown. Many adventurers went to these remote islands, the least likely of whom were two young American women, Caroline Mytinger and Margaret Warner who set out from San Francisco in 1926 armed with little more than art supplies and a ukelele, used by Margaret to entertain sitters while Caroline painted their portraits. Mytinger and Warner went chasing adventure in the name of science, something rarely done by women at the time, and they did it in the face of universal dissapproval and even terror on the part of their families, who didn't expect them to come back alive. Not only that, but they had virtually no money and no scientific support or backing. But live they did, and they brought back beautiful paintings and the fascinating stories contained in this fine book.

This classic book is an invaluable instructor and reference guide for any professional, amateur or student artist who depicts the human form. Revealing the drawing principles behind 100 inspiring masterpieces, this book presents works by Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rubens, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt and others. 230 illustrations.

The nude figure has been the subject of art for centuries and continues to inspire contemporary artists. Figure drawing is part of the core curriculum at art schools and college art departments. Art models young and old play an important role in this creative process. So how does one learn how to become an art model? The Art Model's Handbook explains what you need to know to model for art classes and professional artists. You'll learn about the structure of figure drawing sessions, how to come up with interesting poses, costume modeling, professional conduct, finding work, and security concerns. Awkward but important questions about nudity and body issues are addressed. Guidelines for faculty and sample policies are also included. The book is based on the experience of the author, plus interviews with male and female models, artists, fine art photographers, and art school management. This is the definitive guide for art models, artists, and workshop leaders.

Cleopatra has been dead for twenty centuries, but her name still resonates in the west. Her story has the status of a foundation myth. As such, artists of all periods have drawn on it in order to raise questions concerned with the world in which they found themselves living.
This study chooses a number of key occasions from European history on which writers and painters re-imagined Cleopatra. In doing so Mary Hamer takes the reader on a pleasurable intellectual treasure hunt through the ages. In addition, by restoring these works to their original context - political, philosophical and aesthetic - the author opens up unexpected new readings of images and texts which had previously appeared to be self-explanatory.
The purpose of this book is to raise questions about how these images of a dead Egyptian queen were read. Through careful analysis Hamer traces attempts to manipulate attitudes to women and power, women and sexuality and to desire itself. In the case of Tiepolo's Cleopatra, for example, the Queen embodies the desire for knowledge; in post-Revolutionary France, she symbolises political freedom. In the new introductory essay we discover that Cleopatra's role as a focus for cultural debate continues, and that, as previously, much is at stake: it is now the question of her race that is highly contested.

A clear and informative pocket-sized guide to understanding and drawing the human figure First published in 1918, Practical Art Anatomy offers concise yet thorough explanations of the structure of the skeleton, the arrangement of muscles and how they work together to define the human form. Detailed line drawings throughout the book aid identification and depiction of each anatomical feature, making Practical Art Anatomy indispensable both as a tutorial for the student and a reference guide for the more experienced artist.

Any artist wishing to practice figure drawing or to understand the body's movement will do well to study the interaction of muscles with bone structure. This timeless introduction to human anatomy combines art and science, focusing on realistic depictions of the skeleton's impact on the external form and the attachments of the muscular system.
More than 70 black-and-white illustrations show the positions and names of muscles and bones. Clear and accurate, the diagrams cover everything from the bones and muscles in the neck, head, trunk, limbs, hand, and foot to details of the face. Artists at every level of experience will find this volume an indispensable reference.

Henrietta Moraes was a muse, writer and considered a Queen of Bohemia. In last years of her tempestuous life, Henrietta was painted by Maggi, and this book has much to say about the relationship between artist and model. A series of charcoal drawings that capture the essence of their friendship.

To the time-honored myth of the artist creating works of genius in isolation, with nothing but inspiration to guide him, art historians have added the mitigating influences of critics, dealers, and the public. "Bodies of Art" completes the picture by adding the model. This lively look at atelier politics through the lens of literature focuses in particular on the female model, with special attention to her race, ethnicity, and class. The result is a suggestive account of the rise and fall of the female model in nineteenth-century realism, with a final emphasis on the passage of the model into photography at the turn of the century. This history of the model begins in nineteenth-century Paris, where the artist-model dynamic was regularly debated by writers and where the most important categories of models appear to be Jewish, Italian, and Parisian women. "Bodies of Art" traces an evolution in the representation of this model in realist and naturalist literary works from her "birth" in Balzac to her "death" in Maupassant, in the process revealing how she played a key role in theories of representation advanced by writers. Throughout the book, Marie Lathers connects the artist's work to the social realities and actual bodies that surround and inhabit the atelier. Her work shows how much the status of the model can tell us about artistic practices during the century of the birth of modernity.

Mildred Valley Thornton has an abiding passion which she pursued with almost missionary fervour throughout he life -- the preservation of Canada's native culture. For over fifty years she dedicated herself to that purpose through the medium of her paintings, writings and lectures. She painted the portraits of many prominent and historical Native Canadians and assembled an accompanying catalogue of anecdotes, folklore and legends which provide a unique chronicle of a vanished age. In her own words: "I saw so much to respect and admire in the Indian character and soon realised the enormous contribution they could make, culturally and spiritually to the Canada which is common heritage. As my work progressed my interest became overwhelming. I could see a page of glowing history disappearing before my eyes, I resolved to exert every effort and make every sacrifice to capture what I could before it was too late." The book includes 69 colour plates of her original paintings and her personal account of the vanishing age.

The Sande Society of the Mende people of Sierra Leone is a secret female regulatory society that both guards and transmits the ideals of feminine beauty so fundamental to the aesthetic criteria in Mende culture. In this eloquent and moving book, Sylvia Ardyn Boone describes the Society, its rituals and organization, and the mask worn by its members. Her book is an evocative account of Mende life and philosophy as well as a unique contribution to the study of African art, one based on African conceptions about the person and the human body. "This is a beautiful and beautifully written book. ... Boone writes in ways that reveal her evident devotion to Mende culture."-John Picton, African Affairs "A major contribution to our ethnographic understanding of Mende culture, and to understanding the way concepts of women's bodies encode cultural messages about gender relations."-E. Frances White, Women's Review of Books "A respectful approach to [the mysteries of the Sande], by an art historian who has tiptoed where anthropologists feared to tread. Radiance from the Waters deserves to be read. ... It provides something more interesting than esoteric knowledge: an extended meditation on notions of beauty and decorum and the way in which these can be translated simultaneously into art and ... advancement for women."-John Ryle, London Review of Books "The first text to illuminate the power of the feminine aesthetic in West African art."-Ms.

Difference exists; otherness is constructed. This book asks how important Western artists, from Giotto to Titian and Caravaggio, and from Bosch to D rer and Rembrandt, shaped the imaging of non-Western individuals in early modern art. Victor I. Stoichita's nuanced and detailed study examines images of racial otherness during a time of new encounters of the West with different cultures and peoples, such as those with dark skins: Muslims and Jews. Featuring a host of informative illustrations and crossing the disciplines of art history, anthropology, and postcolonial studies, Darker Shades also reconsiders the Western canon's most essential facets: perspective, pictorial narrative, composition, bodily proportion, beauty, color, harmony, and lighting. What room was there for the "Other," Stoichita would have us ask, in such a crystalline, unchanging paradigm?

The figure of a woman reclining, in repose, displayed, abandoned, fallen, asleep, or dreaming, returns in the work of women filmmakers and photographers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Filmmakers Agnes Varda and Catherine Breillat, and American photographer working in Paris, Nan Goldin, return to the paintings of Titian, Velazquez, Goya, Courbet, and others, re-imagining, and re-purposing, their images of female beauty, display, (auto)eroticism, and intimacy. This book, a sensuous evocation of these feminist works, claims a female-identified pleasure in looking. The artists explored align images of repose and sensuality with other images of horizontality and proneness, of strong emotional content, images of erotic involvement, of vulnerability, of bodily contortion, of listlessness, grief, and depression. The reclining nude is for all three artists a starting point for a reflection on the relation of film, projections, and still photography, to painting, and a sustained re-imagining of the meanings conjured through serial returns to a particular pose. This book claims that the image of the reclining nude is compelling, for female-identified artists - and for all allied in feeling and picturing femininity - in the sensitive, ethically adventurous, politically complex feminist issues it engages. The reclining nude is an image of passivity, of submission, of hedonism. It allows thought about passivity as pleasure, about depression and grief figured posturally, about indolence as a form of resistance and anarchy. Through this image, female-identified artists have claimed freedom to offer new focus on these extremes of emotion. They are re-imagining horizontality.

This wide-ranging study traces the forces that drove the production and interpretation of visual images of Shakespeare's plays. Covering a rich chronological terrain, from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the midpoint of the nineteenth, Stuart Sillars offers a multidisciplinary, nuanced approach to reading Shakespeare in relation to image, history, text, book history, print culture and performance. The volume begins by relating the production imagery of Shakespeare's plays to other visual forms and their social frames, before discussing the design and operation of illustrated editions and the 'performance readings' they offer, and analysing the practical and theoretical foundations of easel paintings. Close readings of The Comedy of Errors, King Lear, the Roman plays, The Merchant of Venice and Othello provide detailed insight into how the plays have been represented visually, and are accompanied by numerous illustrations and a beautiful colour plate section.

Lucian Freud (1922-2011) was interested in the telling of truths. Always operating outside the main currents of 20th-century art, the esteemed portrait painter observed his subjects with the regimen and precision of a laboratory scientist. He recorded not only the blotches, bruises, and swellings of the living body, but also, beneath the flaws and folds of flesh, the microscopic details of what lies within: the sensation, the emotion, the intelligence, the bloom, and the inevitable, unstoppable decay. Despite rejecting parallels between him and his renowned grandfather, the correlation between Lucian Freud's sitting process for portraiture and Sigmund Freud's psychotherapy sessions is a fascinating element to this figurative oeuvre. Despite the thickness of the impasto surfaces, Freud's portraits of subjects as varied as the Queen, Kate Moss, and an obese job center supervisor penetrate the physicality of the body with a direct and often disarming insight. The result is as much a psychological interrogation as it is an uneasy examination of the relationship between artist and model. This book brings together some of Freud's most outstanding and unapologetic portraits, to introduce an artist widely considered one of the finest masters of the human form. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

With this book, Emmelyn Butterfield-Rosen brings a new formal and conceptual rubric to the study of turn-of-the-century modernism, transforming our understanding of the era's canonical works. Butterfield-Rosen analyzes a hitherto unexamined formal phenomenon in European art: how artists departed from conventions for posing the human figure that had long been standard. In the decades around 1900, artists working in different countries and across different media began to present human figures in strictly frontal, lateral, and dorsal postures. The effect, both archaic and modern, broke with the centuries-old tradition of rendering bodies in torsion, with poses designed to simulate the human being's physical volume and capacity for autonomous thought and movement. This formal departure destabilized prevailing visual codes for signifying the existence of the inner life of the human subject. Exploring major works by Georges Seurat, Gustav Klimt, and the dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky- replete with new archival discoveries-Modern Art and the Remaking of Human Disposition combines intensive formal analysis with inquiries into the history of psychology and evolutionary biology. In doing so, it shows how modern understandings of human consciousness and the relation of mind to body were materialized in art through a new vocabulary of postures and poses.

The ways of war in the Middle Ages never cease to fascinate. There is a glamour associated with knights in shining armour, colourful tournaments and heroic deeds which appeals to the modern imagination. Because medieval warfare had its colourful side it is easy to overlook the face that war was a very serious business in an age when brute force was the recognised way of settling a quarrel, and conflict formed a normal way of life at every level of society. This book illustrates the art of war with dozens of medieval images from books and manuscripts, and reveals a wealth of social and military background on heraldry, armour, knights and chivalry, castles, sieges, and the arrival of gunpowder. This new edition is completely revised with a selection of new illustrations from the British Library's medieval manuscripts.