In this project, I will be attempting to recreate two of Sir Charles Bell’s pieces representing the arteries in the human body. The first image is that of a hand, lightly touching a book with the arteries on display. The second image is of the lower leg, showing the arteries and the muscle underneath the skin. The primary source of the images is Sir Charles Bell’s 1801 book Engravings of the Arteries. Charles Bell was a surgeon during the late 1700s and early 1800s, whose work was focused on better understanding human anatomy. To do this, Bell used engravings to generate his interpretations of the human body and published them in scholarly texts as a resource for future medical students that he would teach anatomy to. The engravings themselves use a metal plate, upon which the artist will use an etching tool known as a burin to engrave their design into the plate. An acid bath must be used afterward to incise the design into the plate. The design is known as intaglio. Ink is used to fill intaglios and a tarlatan cloth is used to wipe off excess ink. The design is transferred onto paper by pressing the paper against the intaglio. The technique is generally standard, however, the plate metal can vary between zinc, iron, and copper. Paper will not last as long as engravings on metal. Additionally, an advantage of intaglio is that it is infinitely reproducible, as long as the metal engraving is kept safe and intact.
Original Images Which I will Recreate:
To fully recreate these images I will need a copper plate, acid bath, burins, tarlatan cloth, ink, and ground (acid-resistant wax). To transfer the etching, I will also need printmaking paper and a rolling printing press. However, I do not have any of these tools so I must try a different method to recreate these images. I have chosen to draw these images using pencil on sketch paper. I noticed that both images actually seem like they have been drawn with a pencil, containing grey lines, and shading similar to that of a pencil. Hence, I believe that sketching the image could prove to be fruitful. I anticipate that the images that I make will be similar visually, specifically in terms of tone and color. Etching is a very different technique, through which Bell has been able to create very dark regions in his images which I am not sure the pencil will be enough to recreate. Moreover, because two completely different modes of art are being used, the interpretation of the different structures can be different due to the differences in the visual perspective.
Field Note 1/3
Date: Tuesday, Feb 8, 2022
People Involved: Just me
Time and Duration: About 3 hours, 3:45 – 6:30 PM
Location: Fondren Library Basement
Reconstruction conditions: Normal room temperature, brightly lit room, sitting with friends who were studying
Equipment and Tools used: Laptop for image reference, Sketch paper, Mechanical Pencil, Red Colored pencil, Sony ANC Headphones, Spotify rap playlist, Muji Drawing Eraser
Materials and their source and quantities: Graphite from mechanical pencil was used for grey coloring and shading to add depth. Only one colored pencil was used to highlight the artery. I got the sketch paper from the student center earlier in the day and shared it with my friends, Raul Montes and Abinav Sankaranthi.
Subjective factors: The paper is rougher than normal A4 printer paper, and the pencil does not move as smoothly across the paper as a result. I had coffee right next to me, and its smell filled the area around me. I felt nervous, and my heart was beating a little faster than normal as I had not done a free-hand sketch like this in quite some time.
Prior Knowledge: None as far as drawing physiological structures, but I have drawn on sketch paper before.
Reflection on my practice:
Starting the drawing was the hardest part. Because I chose to free-hand the image, I didn’t have the best starting point to work from, simply the blank paper. I chose to start at the arm, which was a simpler structure, and transition to the outline of the hand. In the beginning, I chose not to add details and went for a simple outline from which I could then work. Charles Bell made use of an etching technique, which will typically involve the use of acid to cut into a metal plate, to then press the design onto paper. This technique is difficult to emulate, thus, I chose to make a sketched rendition of the original image. While I had the option to trace, I chose against it, to challenge myself and experiment with my artistic ability. Before I began drawing the image, I tried to use a pen. However, I found a few issues with this choice of media. First, I found it difficult to make shadows. With a pencil, I can smear the graphite with my thumb and create a soft grey area around the hard lines of the image, and add depth to the image. Second, given that I chose to free-hand draw the image, I was bound to make several mistakes. My mistakes would be permanent with a pen, and it would not give me the flexibility I needed to draw this image in great detail.
While drawing, I came to appreciate the differences between how I and Bell chose to make our renditions of the same image. Bell’s technique seemed to be superior especially in how he could shade heavily, without losing the lines of other structures of the hand. This was particularly apparent in the formation of the bent middle and ring fingers, which are situated in a region of extreme shading, and it made it all the more difficult to not lose the structures after I applied a shadow to the area under the hand. I also noticed that the way Bell applied shadows was through short strokes around the structure. My technique was different; I made short strokes but smeared some of the strokes to soften the edges and spread the dark color.
Photos and Documenting process:
Field Note 2/3
Date: Thursday, Feb 10, 2022
People Involved: Just me
Time and Duration: About 3 hours, 10:30 PM – 1:30 AM
Location: My Dorm Room
Reconstruction conditions: The room was slightly cold, and was brightly lit
Equipment and Tools used: Laptop for image reference, Sketch paper, Mechanical Pencil, Sony ANC Headphones, Spotify rap playlist, Muji Drawing Eraser, Table lamp with white light.
Materials and their source and quantities: Graphite from mechanical pencil was used for grey coloring and shading to add depth.
Subjective factors: My cold hands felt weaker as I gripped the pencil. The pencil almost felt heavier in my hand. I was tired and had made some coffee to stay up and start this second drawing. My room smelled of the distinct floral glade air freshener in my room and the cup of coffee that I had brewed just minutes before. Just the smell of coffee was enough to keep me alert and awake as I began my drawing.
Prior Knowledge: My previous drawing of the hand had prepared me more for this drawing, as the style is essentially the same, but was a bit more complex and detailed. I now had more practice in creating softer edges and had now had more experience with the way that Bell shaded his images. I noticed a pattern between this image and the first, in that Bell tended to use short strokes to create shadow effects in his art. I would aim to do the same in my rendition of the leg.
Reflection on my practice:
This image is more technically demanding than the previous and there were a couple of liberties that I had to take to simplify some of the details from the original image. During this drawing session, I focused largely on the formation of the arterial structures, bone, and foot. I also created a general outline of the peeled back skin and muscle – the oval-like structure on the left. The original image contains a significant amount of small connective tissue in the foot, which I found difficult to emulate in my own rendition. To try and emulate these structures, I used smaller strokes against the solid outline line but ended up having to omit some structures either because they did not go well with the overall aesthetic of my drawing.
As I was drawing I found myself unusually focused on the sketch. I realized that I had almost blocked out the music that I was listening to, and was unable to recall what song had just played when I decided to take a short break. My vision was hyperfocused on the sketch and the drawing, blocking out all other distractions and stimuli from my environment. I no longer could smell the aromas in the room, nor feel the soreness in my muscles from the workout earlier in the day. In the end, I had an outline of the leg and a starting point for my bone and foot regions of the drawing.
Photos and Documenting Process:
Questions that Arise:
My experiences while drawing this image reminded me of the class readings on mechanical objectivity, and how it manifests itself in scientific practice. Here, Bell aims to create an objective representation of the human leg, however, his biases and his view on what is aesthetically pleasing could potentially warp how the leg he was drawing really looked. While I drew, I took liberties with my interpretation of Bell’s rendition of the leg and had slight differences in my own aesthetic. Thus I wonder, what impact does the difference in aesthetic have on the objectivity of the physiological representation of the leg that both Bell and I aimed to recreate? How does my freehand drawing affect the subjective experience of the viewer and their interpretation of the art?
Field Note 3/3
Date: Saturday, Feb 12, 2022
People Involved: Just me
Time and Duration: About 2 hours, 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Location: My Room
Reconstruction conditions: Cold morning and the room was filled with natural light from my window
Equipment and Tools used: Laptop for image reference, Sketch paper, Mechanical Pencil, Sony ANC Headphones, Spotify rap playlist, Muji Drawing Eraser,
Materials and their source and quantities: Graphite from mechanical pencil was used for grey coloring and shading to add depth.
Subjective factors: My room was brightly lit from the sun shining through the window. My pencil’s grip felt soft yet sturdy.
Prior Knowledge: I am now continuing the work from the previous drawing session, so I had knowledge of what to expect and had a plan for how to go about the rest of the drawing. I would apply my shading and contouring experience from the night before and my drawing session of the hand to make the muscle peel-back section of the sketch.
Reflection on my practice:
Drawing the muscle was a difficult part of the sketch, as there are a lot of small structures. I had to gloss over some details but my main focus for this structure was to create definition and depth in the main parts of the peeled back muscle. Like the night before, I had to make some of my own artistic interpretations of the muscle and my understanding of human anatomy to make sense of what Bell was drawing. My smearing technique was also very critical to my attempts in enhancing the depth, tone, and realism of my image.
At times I felt confused as to what Bell was looking to depict, particularly in the muscle section – it almost looked like a bush attached to a leg. In the end, I was not too happy with how my representation of this section came out. I felt like it lacked the texture in the original image, and that mine was too soft and void of necessary details. I also notice that while labeling, the arteries of the toes were all under one label, however, there was no number or letter on the image. I predicted that this label would be under the number 11 based on the pattern of the numbering in the image. However, I chose not to add the label to most effectively emulate the image.
Photos and Documenting Process:
Questions that Arise:
As I drew there was a level of confusion as to what I was drawing, and how to best depict it in my own representation of that same drawing. I wonder, to the untrained eye, how were these imaged interpreted when Bell first made them? Because I was not too happy with how the image turned out, what steps can I take to improve my shading and detailing skills while sketching? Perhaps if I were to take a little bit more time on the image, I would be able to pay more attention to emulate the same feel that Bell was able to produce in his images. Or, perhaps sketching is not the most ideal method to add these details and is limited in its scope.