Classical Life Drawing Studio: Lessons & Teachings in the Art of Figure Drawing

by James Lancel Mcelhinney, Instructors of the Arts Students League of New York, Will Barnet (Foreword)

Classical drawing is staging a comeback. The Art Students League of New York presents a unique and perfect celebration of this revival: a gallery of never-before-published 19th- and 20th-century drawings and invaluable insights from the League's figurative drawing teachers along, with exemplary works by them and their select students. With a foreword by celebrated artist Will Barnet, this collection is the ultimate volume on the art of drawing.

Genres: Art, Drawing

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 2010

Reviews

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

99% of the art in this book is wonderful and worth referencing. I do not enjoy the lofty way many of the passages of text come across (all of the ones I could be bothered to read in the "lessons" section were full of names and purple prose rather than getting to points about making art)

[Kumar Nagappa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super

[Vik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m in love with this book

[Danielle Vasquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

chopped full of beautiful art work.

[Craig Masten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I teach figure/life drawing, and I have a special love for this important tool of artists. Inspiration for the book was the discovery of a forgotten cache of nude figure drawings by students at The Art League of New York from about the turn of the 20th century. The book's first part is an overview of the history of such drawing. A second section shows many of those Art League lost works. The third and last section has individual short commentaries by current figure/life teachers, beginning with each critiquing one of the old drawings on a facing page, as well as giving short summery of their individual philosophies of life drawing, and followed by several samples of their own work as well as that of several of their students. The book is an interesting combination of background, examples of past and present figure/life drawings, and various ways current drawing teachers interact with students.The book well presents the subject to both artists and anyone else interested in this fundamental part of doing art. The photos of the artwork are excellent, and the text often insightful, even allowing for the usual amount of art talk.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent collection of Life Drawings from the Art Students League of New York. Many of the pieces go back to the late 1800's and early 1900's and feature famous instructors such as George Bridgman. One of the more interesting features of the book is the section displaying the works of the teachers and their students. As a collection of drawing this is an excellent book, however, the title states "Lessons and Teachings", and there is little of that. Some musings from the teachers, but no actual instruction or tutorials - a bit misleading. The quality of the drawings warrant four stars, but the title, and lack of instruction, drags it down to three.

[Martha Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is filled front to back with wonderful, full page, academic charcoal figure drawings. I did not see any "lessons" on drawing spelled out in this book. Rather the photos of themselves are lessons to study and copy. The book's strongest selling point for me was that it contains a plethora of beautiful full page photographs of charcoal figure drawings completed by talented academically trained artists. I would buy this book as a reference and display it proudly on my coffee table. It is one of the best books I have seen showcasing classical charcoal figure drawings!

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

good pictures to use to practice

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Student drawings in this book are phenomenal.