Memory Drawing: Perceptual Training and Recall Paperback – March 9, 2013

It is always amazing to look at the grand art of the past - landscapes, cityscapes, figures in motion, genre scenes - and realize that artists of the past had no cameras to capture what lay before them. Rather they remembered. Yes, they often made quick on the scenes sketches, but then returned to their studios and used their recall of what they observed to flesh out their work. Today the skill of drawing from memory isn't given the emphasis it once was, in many ways handicapping artists who wish to better paint what they see or have seen. While today's emphasis on self expression seems to negate the need to remember what one sees and instead focus on what one feels, inspiration often comes from without....the way light and shadow play upon a group of trees, the texture of an abandoned object, the reflections on a window of a house by the sea.This book attempts to help artists to remember what they see, and then use that memory to make art that captures the reality of what was seen or the artist's particular view of what was before him or her. To do so a review of memory training is offered, along with excersizes. While the rapid presentation of images around us these days on TV or through films and videos teaches us all to be passive receivers of sensory information, artists can benefit from learning better to recall stimuli that attract them. This book can help do that.

What a loss to both to art & society that we are not all taught this in school as children. Finally a modern well written guide to visual memory & visualization training that is not based upon intangible methods like meditation but practical art instruction.

A great practice for artists and those wanting to develop their visual memory

helpfull

Very sensible and helpful advice

If you are interested in improving your art, either drawing or painting, this is not the book that will do it. The author's premise is that memories of what you have seen are more important than actually, for instance, drawing from a model. If you are interested in making figures that are lifelike and compelling, then I doubt you will learn anything from this book. All the proof you need of how not to make great art is to go to the author's website and see his work. It does indeed look like someone who is drawing from memory. The figures look like mannequins, completely lifeless. They look like symbols for people rather than individuals. It's also not exactly a demanding read - I read it in one afternoon. It was given to me by a friend who said she no longer wanted it. She was right.

There is no question that artists of the past used memory training as a means of study. The author clearly shows the historical and contemporary value of training one's visual memory and clearly explains the benefit to the serious student. Misunderstanding the purpose for memory training leads to a poorly reasoned attitude toward the practice. From the writings of Degas to Boisbaudran, training the visual memory is extolled and in Rousar's book both the importance of the practice historically and its practical use today are well defined.

It was a good book,but maybe not exactly what my daughter wanted.

I would have overlooked this hidden gem if it hadn't been for a link in one of James Gurney's blogposts. My personal art book library is huge, I own every seminal work from Richard Schmid to Walt Stanchfield and yet I have never read any book solely devoted to this topic. The author, trained in the atelier tradition, has thoroughly done his homework and the book is rich with wisdom, quotes, history and of course exercises to help assist with building this skillset. A truly underrated title and much needed in a time where we artists tend to be overly-reliant on references, what with the luxury of google images at our disposal. It provides good insight into atelier methods too, I would say this book is not for beginners though. It is very wordy - not all us artists are the reading type - but you could skip to the sections with exercises and skim lightly to get the jist of how they work.

Excellent

Good

Generally I will read anything about the science, materials, techniques, psychology of art, and I feel uplifted and inspired. This was one of the shortest, yet driest art books I've ever read, clearly written by an academic artists for other academic artists, or maybe for himself. The practice is no doubt beneficial, but getting through the book felt like a chore, and I probably will never do the exercises as described. There is no colour in the book, and no examples of completed exercises. Maybe I've been spoiled by other more authors who are more colourful (literally and figuratively). Having said that, the author seems very knowledgable and practiced. He stays on point, and provides copious footnotes. If memory drawing is something that interests you, and you are serious about understanding and pursuing it, then I can highly recommend this book.

Art is all in your head. This book provides excellent exercises to strengthen your mental powers and visual memory in order to perfect your enjoyment of art creation. It is not an easy journey as it requires dedication and long hours of effort. But if you stick with it, and enjoy making art, then this book will boost your abilities a hundred fold.