Constructive Anatomy

George Bridgman's art instruction books are a compilation of his life's work as an instructor at the Art Students League of New York. His book "Constructive Anatomy" describes in detail the complex anatomical features of the human body and how to simplify their structures into simple three dimensional shapes. A knowledge of the underlying construction of the human body is the foundation for realistic figure drawing. George Brant Bridgman (1864-1943) was a Canadian-American painter and instructor. He studied under the painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Bridgman taught artistic anatomy and figure drawing at the Art Students League of New York starting in 1898. Over his 45 years of teaching, Bridgman taught thousands of art students including Norman Rockwell, Andrew Loomis, and Robert Beverly Hale.