Sculpture Écorché | Spring Semester intensive

Écorché is a sculptural discipline wherein the artist sculpts the figure from the inside out: starting with the skeleton and proceeding to the superficial musculature. The artist gains a deep and intrinsic understanding of human anatomy which is indispensable for drawing, painting and sculpting the figure.

The history of écorché traces back to the Renaissance. Artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo engaged in comprehensive anatomical studies through drawing and sculpture with the goal of deepening their understandings of the body’s bony and muscular structures.  

These early écorchés were primarily used as study tools for sculptors and painters and later became a vital part of art education, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries when they were widely used in European art academies as anatomical models for students to study muscle placement and movement.

This class will start with the basics of building and/or fine tuning an armature, and move on to learning about tools, classic sculpture techniques and perspectives, and working from a live model (with anatomical visual aids). This class meets on Wednesdays for 16 weeks (104 credit hours). For the duration of the class students have access to our Saturday Open Studio Model Sessions for free (9am-4pm, [96 credit hours]) should they wish to apply what they learn in an unstructured environment (this class has a model provided and is uninstructed). Students will have a locker and can store their materials at the school for the duration of the course.