Hale, Robert Beverly. Master Class in Figure Drawing. New York: Waston-Guptill, 1985.
This book is a great book for the beginning figure artist to read. By making the artist focus on basic shapes, Hale breaks the beginner's urge to draw details and instead concentrate on the figure as a whole. Hale's method of teaching has opened my eyes to the same mistakes that I was experiencing a few years ago in drawing not only the figure, but everything I drew. Here is an example of his way of pointing out the faults of a beginner artist,
In a sense, I face the problem of a mystic trying to explain mystical experiences to people who have not had them. If you have drawn a lot, you understand what people say about drawing. But if you have not drawn very much, it is very hard to understand some concepts. If you are starting in, do not be discouraged. Just draw a little and the concepts will become clear to you.... It seems to me that the beginning artist's mind is very, very different from what it becomes later on. When you first start to draw, you do not draw very well until you get all the artist's concepts into your mind.... As far as I can see, beginners tend to think in a very literary way. They think largely in terms of what they have read about and what they have heard. They know that people have eyebrows, noses, mouths, and legs, and they get all these into the picture. On the other hand, they rarely read or hear about the rib cage, which is easily the largest form in the body - so they leave that out. They know people have knees. But they do not realize that "knee" to an artist is an extremely vague term - it does not mean very much. What we try to do as artists when we really study the human figure is to find out about thing we don't know about: the bumps on the body, conceptions of mass, and things of that sort. (15)
There are over one hundred lessons contained in this book and Hale
consistently persuades the beginning artist to change his or her thoughts
on the figure. He relates to the beginner because he tells them exactly
what they are thinking. He knows the beginner is thinking of drawing
the nipples or the navel before drawing the underlying mass of the rib
cage. Or, drawing in the eyes, nose and, mouth before drawing the form
of the skull beneath. Each lesson is accompanied by a master drawing
with the points of the lesson highlighted on the drawing.
This book, along with Hale's Drawing Lessons Form the Great Masters
and Anatomy Lessons From the Great Masters have been part of my art
reference library for about a year now. I always refer to them for inspiration
and guidance when drawing the human figure. These are essential for
any beginning artist, which I believe they are directed toward.
Robert Beverly Hale is like other teachers of art that I admire. He was a dedicated teacher that found time apart from other important events in his life to teach thousands of art students at the Art Student's League for more than thirty-five years. From being the First Curator of the American Painting Sculpture wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to editor of Art News, to holding one-man shows of his paintings, to presiding over many art organizations and raising a family; he was still able to find time for his students. He was also an accomplished poet and received the Mayor's first Award of Honor in the Arts and Letters in 1977. Hale also served as Adjunct Professor of Drawing and Lecturer on Anatomy at Columbia University and was Lecturer at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at Cooper Union in New York. His lectures were accompanied by life-size figure drawings that he would create on the spot when talking to the students. Hale died in 1985. I not only admire him for his accomplishments, but also for his willingness to teach his vast knowledge of artistic anatomy to others. This, I think, is the sign of a dedicated teacher.