Art Embodied: anatomical drawing 2

charcoal, 16.5" x 23.5"

This charcoal drawing is the second of six anatomical drawings I will create for my independent study project ‘Art Embodied,’ exploring representations of the human figure throughout history. This piece, Christ in Seven Panels, is based off my last two weeks of study examining the Medieval and Early Renaissance, with particular regard to the medieval age.

Each of the seven panels depicts a major event in the life of Christ, beginning on the top left with his birth and continuing with his baptism, the first miracle, the raising of Lazarus, the last supper, the crucifixion, and the ascension. This paneled format was inspired by the narrative and allegorical nature of medieval art.

In line with the pedagogical role and religious agenda of the bulk of medieval art, this piece’s conceptual value carries more punch than it’s aesthetic value. Scale was not used to show perspective but was rather employed to delineate the importance of the respective figures. Ignoring anatomical detail, I chose to represent the human forms as crosses for several reasons. First, in alignment with the simplification of human figures in medieval art, the cross shape resembles a very simplified human form. Second, the symbol of the cross epitomizes the idea of iconography, an undercurrent in much medieval art. Oftentimes figures functioned as symbolic placeholders, heavily stylized and depicted to tell a story, as opposed to functioning as faithful representations of the human form.