Study of the upper leg
As part of the amazing curriculum at Janus Collaborative School of Art, we are covering anatomy for artists through a dissection course. This class is available to us through a partnership with a medical school, Drexel University, in Philadelphia where doctors inform us of their invaluable knowledge of surface anatomy (and then some…for an added bonus!!). Michael Grimaldi is the artistic anatomy instructor.
Today one of the doctors, in answering our questions as he covered the muscle groups and functions of the lower limb, mentioned that it was very interesting for him to look at things from a different perspective/perspective of an artist interested in realistic rendering of the human figure. Many of our questions were ones that have never come up before in his many years of teaching medical students, nor were they thoughts that crossed his mind in his practice. Yet he found them to be quite relevant, interesting and practical. We don’t do any actual dissection, but we work “alongside” the medical students on a weekly basis as they cut through various parts of the cadaver and reveal the muscle groups for us to study and understand. I like to think that the entire partnership is a collaboration in itself where both the artists and the med school students/faculty learn from each other’s point of views and experience.
Our drawings are also up in the dissection lab and though I’m not sure if they are at all useful as a diagram or illustration to the med students during the week, I’d like to imagine that they are. In return, their work in the dissection lab help reveal to us a better understanding of the amazing construction of the human figure.
Anatomical Study of the Upper Leg
I find that there are many ways to approach a drawing in the lab. I found the lower limb a bit complex, so I decided to draw the upper leg as I saw it (dissected/cut, somewhat incomplete as the skin was completely peeled away and the subcutaneous fat and fascia have been cleaned off in some parts while remnants could be seen in other sections), with a slant toward something more diagrammatic in order to better familiarize myself with the muscles and their function in different states of rest and contraction. This will help me better understand any pose the model takes whether it’s from direct observation or something I create from imagination. I didn’t have much time, and I didn’t get a chance to completely draw the muscles that were already cut so I’m sure I could improve the accuracy of some details in my quick study. Nonetheless, the experience of observing and translating the dissected upper leg of the cadaver into a drawing really helped me gain a great understanding of the surface anatomy in this part of the body. I can’t wait until next week and only wish I could stay longer to draw from the cadavers a little more.
