Anatomical Sketches of Heads
date: label: Date
content: probably 1865–1875
name: label: Artist
content: Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826–1900
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: Figures sketches of showing twenty-seven views of human (and possibly other) heads in sequential rows. At upper left, the human skull is shown in left profile with its various parts labeled in detail. Beside it at upper right, another human skull is viewed frontally without a jaw. At upper center three rows of four heads are visible: the upper two rows seem to show a progression from a chimpanzee-like head to that of a human or homo sapiens. All heads in the upper two rows face to the left, excepting the two at upper right, which are viewed from above. At center, another row of four heads is shown--the head at far left is viewed obliquely from the rear, while the head second from the right is shown frontally. Below these at left, two faces are viewed obliquely from the front, while beside them at right, four outlines of faces in left profile are rendered in sequence. At lower right, three other faces are sketched in left profile, while at lower left, four heads are also shown in left profile, the two bottommost being described as those of a fighter (aligning with pseudo-scientific phrenological analyses of heads and skulls popular in the 19th century).
label: Description
content: Verso: Figures sketches showing anatomical views of human arms, shoulders, and chests. In the upper left corner, a view of the anatomy of the chest and lungs is shown above two views of arm bones--the rightmost bent and shown in left profile. At upper right, a head is shown frontally above a partial sketch of chest muscles. At center right, a male torso is outlined beside an anatomical drawing of an upturned and bent arm. At lower right, two sketches of a partially extended arm are included--one emphasizing musculature and the other emphasizing skeletal structure. Finally, at lower left, a view of an outstretched arm is included.
label: Description
content: Pencil sketches of twenty-seven human heads, predominantly shown sequentially in left profile.
place: label: made in
content: USA
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection
label: See more items in
content: Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Louis P. Church
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1917-4-1537
objectType: label: Type
content: figures
label: Object Name
content: Drawing
label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Graphite on gray-green wove paper
label: Dimensions
content: 44.6 × 26.9 cm (17 9/16 × 10 9/16 in.)