Anatomy Drawing at the NGA (Nov 16-17, 2024)

Students will spend the full day Saturday drawing from the “Age of Bronze” plaster sculpture by Rodin at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

The following morning, at the Falls Church Arts gallery, we will analyze the drawings anatomically by placing tracing paper over the drawing and, with the use of a skeleton, pull out the skeletal structure from beneath the surface details so as to understand the skeletal impact on surface form. After lunch we will place another sheet of tracing paper over the skeletal drawing and original drawing to pull out the muscular structure so as to understand how these attach to the bones and influence the surface of the figure drawing.

Students will be then encouraged to return to the Rodin sculpture at a later date to draw it again on their own, but this time drawing not only optically but also conceptually, drawing from what we know is creating the optical effects that hit our retina with stunningly powerful results.

Dony Mac Manus

Dony Mac Manus has taught extensively in Italy, Ireland, and the United States. He holds a Bachelor of Design (1995) and a Higher Diploma in Art and Design Teaching (1997) from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland, as well as a Masters in Figurative Sculpture (2001) from the New York Academy of Art, New York, NY. He founded and directed the Irish Academy of Figurative Art, Dublin, and the Sacred Art School Firenze, Florence, Italy. He was also Artist in Residence and Art Department faculty member at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.