Artistic Anatomy: The Great French Classic on Artistic Anatomy

I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE, AS WELL AS WE ALL DO WHO DRAW, THAT THERE'S NO ONE STOP SHOP BOOK FOR ANYTHING REALLY. BUT IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ANATOMY; I MEAN REALLY LEARN (NOT JUST SOME SHORTCUTS AND TIPS), THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOUR. CAUTION, STUDY IS REQUIRED...SERIOUS ARTISTS ONLY.

This book was used as one of two texts in my art school figure study class included in our school portfolio of supplies. It is also a text used in an ecorche course at another art school. My highest recommendation, is to study this book, along with Frank Netter's medical anatomy book focusing on the osteology and myology sections that apply to artists, leaving behind the details that do not apply to artists. The illustrations in that book are second to none. Also, as many other good artistic anatomy books you can find, as the more you understand, the better. Lastly, get a good poseable medical skeleton. Yes, save up for it, like I did. It is absolutely essential. A realistic sculptor of the human figure must know the body from the inside out. Pictures alone in books are not enough. You must see the structure of the body in the round. Then I reccommend getting Bruno Lucchesi's "Modelling the Figure in Clay, A Sculptors Guide to Anatomy". Do the exercises using this book , your skeleton as a model, putting on the bones and muscles, one by one. This is a spectacular learning experience to build your own ecorche (flayed) figure.

I would like to say something to add to what my fellow reviewers have said.I feel that if you study male-anatomy and you become good at it,you will be able to easily draw women,and the reverse is not true,because most normal women are predisposed to not have much of the musculature or bone structure visible outside because of fat deposit patterns.(atheletes being exceptions)Anatomy of the male and the female is a matter of proportional differences in various parts and a dozen books are available about the subject,And Dr.Richer was trying to take on the subject of morphology which is very important as an approach.And there is no one book to rule them all ,there have been great masters and teachers in the last few hundred years and each had something to say or teach,you can either look at their work or read their books to see the same.I think a lot of width of thinking is required to develop a strong understanding of Anatomy and we are not likely to find it in one book.This book is a must in a collection which should also include Robert Reverly Hale ,Hogarth,Works of Michelangelo,Leonardo,and some current Masters like John Raynes and Glenn Vilppu.

This is a MUST HAVE book for anatomy, and I have taken 2 anatomy classes in art college where this is the only required reading. Yes, the previous reviewer is correct in that labels are incorrect(though only a few) and that it is bewildering why the text and drawings are separated into two parts.However, this book is nothing less than a classic, and any modern art anatomy book references Richer in one way or other -- just look at the bibliography of any anatomy book. The drawings at the end of the book are especially invaluable. Where else can you find 16 side by side drawings of the rotations of the arm? This alone is priceless in understanding how muscles ACTUALLY WORK rather than simply displaying front and profile pictures.I would also recommend "Human Antomy for Artists" by Eliot Goldfinger. It is obviously largely based on Richer's work, but deeply expanded in that it covers every single muscle in detail along with photographs of models. However, you need both books, since Goldfinger does not have the case studies that Richer does (Goldfinger shows the muscles clinically and not in actual application) and is not the master illustrator that Richer was.

While the previous reviewer makes some good points about shortcomings in the text, the anatomical drawings, nonetheless, have an unsurpassed descriptive clarity that remains unmatched in the realm of artistic anatomy books. Highly recommended for this reason.