Editorial Review
Jenó Barcsay, a professor who taught applied anatomy at the Budapest Academy of Fine arts, offers a detailed portrayal of the human body for the fine artist in 142 full page plates. From the entire skeleton and the joints in and out of motion to all the muscles and even facial characteristics, every body part appears in close-up and from varying perspectives, with discussions of anatomical construction.
Cached date: AWS Called=true
Customer Reviews
Some really nice info but bad representation 
2007-07-31
I love the information this book has, but I get frustrated with dark lighting and small drawings. I also hate the way naming and numbering goes into figures. It takes a lot of time to find the name of a particular part of a bone or a muscle. Even that is fine for me, I wish drawings in this book were larger and clearer with clear rendering (it's too dark for me). I get most out of this book when I use another reference book for clearer picture of bones. Some information like the use of muscles is really great and also how they deform. It's not useless book, but it's not a complete book as well.
anatomy for the artist 
2007-04-02
it's a must for figure drawing. the best artist anatomy book out there.
Amazingly, highly detailed, classic reference 
2006-09-25
This is a well-known, outstanding & classic reference in drawing the human figure. It's also maybe too much anatomy for most artists, I believe. If you're looking for a book that'll detail & depict more than you probably need, this is certainly a good place to start!
First off, I just have to say: some of these pencil drawings are absolutely amazing(!). Beautiful & detailed- It's the biggest selling point to this book. Usually it's his rendering of individual muscles here that seem to be his best- his completed figure work being certainly above-average as well. Bones & muscles are rendered in super-clear detail, and simplified drawings & outlines are included to help with artistic representation. It's not an all-around figure drawing book though. For better treatments on proportions & basic shapes see: Walt Reed's The Figure; Jack Hamm's Drawing the Head and Figure; and Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing For All It's Worth. A highly detailed treatment, I usually prefer anatomy books that are even more simplified, concise, and smaller in size. I think most artists do; there're too many anatomy books to choose from these days, and big books can be hard to frequently carry & use.
Sterling publishing seems to agree: they just released a new, tiny, 'concealed spiral' hardback version to meet this very need. And it works pretty well, if you can get over the shockingly small size when compared to the original, *full-sized* hardback! That was the biggest surprise when I received this & opened the amazon box: I didn't even think to consider this new version's size & dimensions. I actually have the original sized hardback, with its dimensions of about 12-7/8" x 9-5/8" x 1-1/8". This new, tiny, Sterling spiral edition is exactly as listed: 8.2" x 7.6" x 1.2". My 'original sized' copy is copyright 1953, printed in 1995 by Barnes & Noble Books. I've never seen the paperback version. Truth be told, between these 2 versions I have, I kind of prefer the bigger sized hardback. I'm glad I have both though: There's no denying the convenience of Sterling's tiny, spiral edition; and production quality is top-notch, with its glossy paper, complete with its 'new car' like smell(!). But you lose some of the gorgeous detail in the pencil work in a book so small in size. To Sterling's credit, most of this minute detail is still very visible. But if you'd compare the 2 versions, I think you'd agree that the bigger, original version is a bit easier on the eyes. Both versions have their benefits.
If you want an even more simplified, concise, and smaller anatomy book in pencil, try Louise Gordon's How to Draw the Human Figure: An Anatomical Approach. It's a pretty solid, small, paperback work, although Barcsay's effort is far more beautiful in its rendering.
My other favorite anatomy books include Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy, and Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy. Both available today!
Good artist, lame book 2002-05-23
This is the first book I've bought on anatomy-for-artists and I just decided to buy different one. Although it's obvious that Jeno knows human anatomy and can draw well, the book has failed to answer many of my questions. For example, one of my biggest concerns is proportion and the differences between male and female proportion, but the book is lacking in these areas.
The section on "differences in male and female proportion" is vague and only has a couple crude illustrations to go by. The only side-by-side comparison of male and female proportion was a male and female torso viewed from behind.
Another thing that I didn't necessarily care for was that the women seemed a little out of proportion. The illustrations of women in this book seem a little manly. They're a little too muscular and a little broad-shouldered. I hope the author was drawing from live nudes, because these aren't "ideally proportioned" women (or attractive, or average...)
Finally, I don't like the format of the book. All you have to go by are his vague scientific descriptions and his drawings. This is like the opposite of what I want in this kind of book. For one thing, if your audience consists of artists, don't write over their heads and force them to learn a bunch of medical terminology just to keep up with your text. That made me want to move on to other books. Another thing that I find really obnoxious is that the only visual reference is the author's drawings. What I want to know is what the parts of the human body really look like, how they're connected, and how they measure up to each other. I already know how to draw and some photographs would've been nice along with the drawings. Also, if you need to draw any body organs like the brain, don't look here.
There are better books on anatomy-for-artists out there.
Up to this point it probably sounds like I didn't care for this book at all, but I do see where I could be useful for people who draw from models. For people that have a live nude model to work with, this book will give you some insight as to what is going on beneath the skin and make you more anatomy-aware in your artwork. That's why this book gets three stars, which I'll have to admit has to do with it's low price.
Terrific learning tool! 2002-03-12
I am learning to sketch and have this and another book of the same title. Despite the shared name, what a world of difference inside!
This is a detailed guide to human anatomy for an artist at any level. It teaches you both the physical and mechanical aspects of the body inside and out -- from what bones and muscles look like to how joints fit together and move, and what the resulted motion looks like. It also looks at all the different elements of the body, whether large or small, from several different perspectives, and from inside to out. The images are both highly detailed and natural.
In addition, all the images in this book are beautiful sketches done by a great artist. Rather than showing glossy photos (like the other book I have) that do not reveal the same kind of details an artist might, this book shows how a pencil and paper might be used to create acurate anatomical images. I find the various plates in the book not only helpful in illustrating what the body looks like, but also how one might depict it.
All in all, this is an extremely well-put together book for its purpose.
An anatomy class standard 1999-12-21
Jenó Barcsay, a professor who taught applied anatomy at the Budapest Academy of Fine arts, offers a detailed portrayal of the human body for the fine artist in 142 full page plates. From the entire skeleton and the joints in and out of motion to all the muscles and even facial characteristics, every body part appears in close-up and from varying perspectives, with discussions of anatomical construction.
