![Study of a Kneeling Nude Girl for The Entombment](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Study_of_a_Kneeling_Nude_Girl_for_The_Entombment.jpg)
A figure study is a
drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...
or
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
of the human body made in preparation for a more composed or finished work; or to learn drawing and painting techniques in general and the human figure in particular. By preference, figure studies are done from a
live model, but may also include the use of other references and the imagination of the artist. The live model may be clothed, or
nude
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
, but is usually nude for student work in order to learn human anatomy, or by professionals who establish the underlying anatomy before adding clothing in the final work.
A related term in
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
is a
maquette
A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...
, a small scale model or rough draft of a proposed work. Drawings may also be preparatory for sculptural work.
Preparatory studies may be compositional, representing the entire proposed work, or may only be of certain details, such as hands and feet. Studies may be sketches completed in a relatively short length of time, or very detailed depending upon the artist's preferred methods. Drawings may concentrate on shapes and form, while studies in painting media are about color and lighting.
The term figure study is sometimes used in photography, but does not seem to be clearly defined as different from
nude photography
Nude photography is the creation of any photograph which contains an image of a nude or semi-nude person, or an image suggestive of nudity. Nude photography is undertaken for a variety of purposes, including educational uses, commercial applic ...
in general, given the inherently finished nature of the medium. Photography students may do work that is for educational purposes, and an artist may take photographs with the intent of using them as references for paintings, but the terms ''figure study'' or ''nude study'' is usually not limited to these preparatory or educational photos. This usage may have begun in the 19th century, when some photographers called their nude images “studies for artists” merely to evade the censors.
Education
Beginning in the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
drawing the figure from life has been considered the best way to learn how to draw, and the practice has been maintained into the present. Different drawing techniques and exercises have become standard, including
gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or ot ...
,
contour
Contour may refer to:
* Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound
* Pitch contour
* Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system
* Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices
* Contour line, a curve along which the function has a ...
, and
mass drawings. For beginners first learning to draw, learning to correctly observe real objects is essential in order to learn three dimensional perspective and the effects of lighting. Live models are preferred but if not available, plaster casts of the figure may be used, never photographs.
Open drawing groups
Experienced artists continue to practice drawing the figure long after their formal education is completed by attending informal groups with no instruction that meet, often weekly, to share the cost of hiring a model. Known by various names, such as sketch groups, figure sessions, etc.; the format is similar to beginning or intermediate drawing classes, being three hours in total that start with a number of gestures and proceed to slightly longer poses, but rarely more than 20 minutes each, only time enough for studies. Such open drawing groups can be found in many locals in the United States, and in other countries that share the Western tradition of figure studies.
Preparatory
During the 16th to the 19th centuries, painters did numerous drawings and color studies in preparation for large works that might take a year or more to complete.
Since the late 19th century studies have become less important as painters adopted of the
wet-on-wet
Wet-on-wet, or ''alla prima'' (Italian, meaning ''at first attempt''), direct painting or au premier coup, is a painting technique in which layers of wet paint are applied to previously administered layers of wet paint. Used mostly in oil paint ...
, or alla prima painting technique, in which layers of wet paint are applied to previous layers of wet paint, the sketch being merely the first layer. However, the use of studies has been maintained by the
academic art
Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie d ...
tradition.
File:Study of a Figure Outdoors.jpg, alt=Monet, ''Study of a Figure Outdoors (Facing Right)'' (1886) by Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
File:Toulouse-Lautrec Prostitutes DMA.jpg, ''Prostitutes'' (c1895) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...
File:Sargent, John Singer (1856-1925) - ritratto di Nicola D'Inverno (1892).jpg, alt=watercolor, A watercolor
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
figure study by John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
.
File:Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso) MET DP826907.jpg, Studies for the Libyan Sibyl
''Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso)'' is a 1511 drawing by Michelangelo. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Description and interpretation
T ...
by Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
File:Sibila Líbica.jpg, Libyan Sibyl
The Libyan Sibyl, named Phemonoe, was the prophetic priestess presiding over the Oracle of Zeus-Ammon (Zeus represented with the Horns of Ammon) at Siwa Oasis in the Libyan Desert.
The term ''sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word ...
on the Sistine Chapel ceiling
The Sistine Chapel ceiling ( it, Soffitto della Cappella Sistina), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance Renaissance art, art. The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built with ...
File:Study for 'William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River', 1876.jpg, alt=study, Study for ''William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River'' by Thomas Eakins
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists.
For the length ...
File:William Rush carving his Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill river.png, alt=finished, ''William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River'' (1908)
File:Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - Madame Palmyre with Her Dog, 1897.jpg, alt=Lautrec, ''Madame Palmyre with Her Dog'' (1897) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...
File:Herbert James Draper, Figure Study.jpg, alt=Draper, ''Figure Study'' by Herbert James Draper
Herbert James Draper ( (baptism record) – ) was an English Classicism, Classicist painter whose career began in the Victorian era and extended through the first two decades of the 20th century.
Life
Born in London, the son of a fruit mercha ...
See also
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Nude (art)
The nude, as a form of visual art that focuses on the unclothed human figure, is an enduring tradition in Western art. It was a preoccupation of Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central positio ...
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Figure painting
A figure painting is a work of fine art in any of the painting media with the primary subject being the human figure, whether clothed or nude. Figure painting may also refer to the activity of creating such a work. The human figure has been on ...
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Figure drawing
A figure drawing is a drawing of the human form in any of its various shapes and postures using any of the drawing media. The term can also refer to the act of producing such a drawing. The degree of representation may range from highly detailed, ...
*
Model (art)
An art model poses, often Nudity, nude, for visual artists as part of the creative process, providing a reference for the human body in a work of art. As an occupation, modeling requires the often strenuous 'Work (human activity), physical work' ...
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William Rush and His Model
''William Rush and His Model'' is the collective name given to several paintings by Thomas Eakins, one set from 1876–77 and the other from 1908. These works depict the American wood sculptor William Rush in 1808, carving his statue ''Water Nym ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
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*{{Cite web, url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/drwg/hd_drwg.htm, title=''Renaissance Drawings: Material and Function'', author=Bambach, Carmen, publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art, access-date=4 November 2012
Painting
Nude art