The Tamarind Book of Lithography: Art and Technique by Garo Antreasian and Clinton Adams (review)

274 Books says, ‘is a relationship of direction and proportion’ and he goes on to discuss methods for training in observing and rendering these. One of these methods, triangulation, is explained in relation to copyinga triangle,however,its applicationto figure drawing is not made very clear and the drawing reproduced as an example is not too helpful. He indicatesthe importance of negativeshapesthat are often overlooked. The treatment of light and shadow is especially good, fully and clearly elaborated with numerous illustrations. A chapter on clothing and other accessories and a number of reproductions of master drawings add to the value of this volume in the Studio Handbook series. Taubes’ book is also on introductory anatomy, which the author claims to have ‘undertakena precise , graphic presentation of the human body, free from any confusing irrelevancies’. Far from being precise, however, the drawings and diagrams are crude and often incorrect and the text is superficial. He is inconsistent in his use of nomenclature, labelling a muscle ‘hood muscle’, for example, on some drawings and ‘trapezius’ on others, resulting in confusion rather than simplification. Some examples of anatomical errors are the following: Page 14-the author states that the ‘head’ of the thighbonecreatesa form onthe body’ssurfacewhen it is really the ‘great trochanter’; the head is buried in the pelvic socket. In Figure 32 he repeats the error, labelling the great trochanter as the head of the thighbone, whereas in Figure 23 it is correctly indicated. Figure 40-what he labels as the ‘group of extensors’ on the forearm should be ‘flexors’. Figure 43-the labeling of biceps and outer vastus on the thigh are reversed and the semitendinosusis incorrectly indicated. Figure 47-what is labeled ‘flankpad’, otherwiseknown as ‘externaloblique’,is actually the ‘gluteus medius’. Errors such as these, along with the poor quality of drawings and text, make the book just about useless except for the few master drawings that are reproduced. A great contrast is offered by Hogarth’s two books. Here drawings and diagrams are clear, generally accurate and with a strong feeling for three-dimensionalform. Theauthor givessimplified schemataand patterns for the musclemasses, showing the body in rhythmic movement and foreshortened perspective views. Each section ends with an indication of important points to remember in drawing. Both volumes are profusely illustrated with simple and concise texts. It is too bad that there is not more attention given to the skeleton structure in ‘DynamicAnatomy’-the author takes this knowledge for granted in the reader-as it would have helped to make it much more complete and useful. The book on the head does treat the skull in some detail and also analyzes movement, wrinkle patterns, facial change due to ageing and different head types. A gallery of great heads from ancient Greece to the 20th century completes this volume. Both of these excellent works can be highly recommended to both students and experienced artists. Finally, almost a classic, first published in 1928 and often reprinted, Victor Perard‘s Anatomy and Drawing is a comprehensive atlas of the human body, the most thorough and accurate of those reviewed here. It has very little text but many drawings of bones and muscles, going into deeper layers than the other works. Though some of the deeper muscles may not be visible on the surface, they often affectthe form and help oneto understand the structure and function of the body. The figures are drawn in many positions, including foreshortened ones and there is a completetable of muscles, their origin and insertion. Though the drawings do not have Hogarth’s senseof volume,they are very complete and make an excellent, almost encyclopedic reference and a complement to the other books discussed. The Tamarind Book of Lithography: Art and Technique. Gar0 Antreasian and Clinton Adams. TamarindLithographyWorkshopInc., LosAngeles. Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1971. 462 pp., illus. Reviewed by:Marcel Salinas* The remarkable revival of printing in recent decades (evident especiallyin Western Europe and America) has taken both artists and publishers by surprise. With the modernization of the printing process, the old ateliers operated by artisans have almost completely disappeared. This change has occurred in the United Statesmore profoundlythan in France, leaving its effects in the area of...