Assemblage: Three-Dimensional Picture Making by Gerald Mc-Connell (review)

170 Books part of it was reproduced in a lighter tone and labeled to correspond with the points treated in the accompanying caption. The diagrams in this book are sometimes rather rough, making it difficult at times to relate the exact form under discussion to the drawing. Potential readers should be warned that this is not a book for beginners hoping to learn anatomy. On the other hand, someone coming to it with a basic knowledge of anatomy will gain an enormous amount of anatomical information and a profounder understanding of its value in drawing and how the masters, as the authors point out, 'used anatomy selectively, emphasizing some shapes more than others'. By the end of the book, the authors have covered in much detail the muscles and bones of importance for figure drawing, with special emphasis on how they affect the surfaces of forms and how they have been rendered by a variety of artists working in different styles. The final section reproduces 30 anatomical plates from Richer's Artistic Anatomy for readers' use for comparison with the drawings and in following the commentaries. The full-page illustrations are, unfortunately, of uneven quality. Most are good; others are fair and a few, such as the Signorelli nude on page 75, out of focus. The reproduction ofa Rubens drawing on page 19 is poor; it looks like it was reproduced from a reproduction. I recommend highly this book to advanced students, practicing artists, historians and to those interested in an in-depth study of figure drawing. Assemblage: Three-Dimensional Picture Making. Gerald MeConnell . Van Nostrand Reinhold, London, 1976. 96 pp., illus. Paper, £5.30. Reviewed by John Shown" A friend of mine who owns an art gallery once told me, 'There are lots of people who collect pictures, but there are very few people who collect art'. McConnell has written a book for those who collect almost anything and want to convert it into a picture. His idea is devoid of artistic pretentions, and therein lies the answer to the book's success. This is not to say that McConnell is not an artist himself. Before a single page of text, the book begins with eight pages of color plates of 22 works by the author. Most of these works were done as commercial assignments, attesting to his polish as an assemblage artist. Unfortunately, I find that their polish is their downfall as works of serious art, but perhaps that is an unfair judgment, since, as I said above, he is devoid of artistic pretensions. He does not say that he is going to attempt to transform his readers into clones of Louise Nevelson, the 'high priestess' of assemblage in the U.S.A., whose precise and exquisite technique I admire. McConnell has taken an old idea with roots in Victoriana and mixed it well with slick advertising art to present unbeatable formulas that even the clumsiest of students can follow. The book fires imagination with easy challenges. I also have been guilty of collecting junk. And in the U.S.A. the current phenomenon of sale upon sale of used consumer products, virtually assemblages themselves, have become instant sources of irresistiblejunk. Using McConnell's formulas and advice on how to construct, what tools to use and where to purchase supplies, one cannot fail. Teachers should not pass up the opportunity to make use of the book as a guide to take students into the complex labyrinth that is assemblage. On the last four pages of the book one is shown results obtained by students, and the results are not bad, although, for the most part, predictable. The book is beautifully laid out-an inducement to read its concise instructions. McConnell has provided many inspiring examples, dividing them into separate chapters, such as Sea, Butterfly, Wine. These headings are intriguing, especially for beginners, I would imagine. McConnell owes a debt of gratitude to assemblage artist Joseph Cornell, but then so does almost anyone who has ever seriously attempted an assemblage. Cornell's assemblages remind one that what one is attempting with McConnell's formulas is Three-Dimensional Picture Making. As my friend said, 'very few people collect art'. And...