Course Name: ANTH 48889/58889 FACES:  Human Head Anatomy with a Forensic Art Focus

Description: Renaissance artists became anatomists to create more life-like portrayals of the human figure, and Italy was in the forefront of these developments. Our course begins with studying works by these artist/anatomists: Donatello, Antonio Pollaiuolo, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and others, through walking tours to see public sculptures, visits to the Museo Nazionale Bargello, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, and lectures. We will examine drawings, paintings and sculptures of faces by these artists, and gain an appreciation for how well they understood human anatomy. We will also go to La Specola, a Natural History Museum that features anatomical wax models.

In the classroom students will study human skulls and learn the form and function of the muscles of facial expression and mastication. We will pay close attention to features of the skull that ultimately give each face its unique qualities and study the areas that indicate age and sex of the individual. Each student will sculpt the facial bones of a skull, using an exact replica cast as a model.

In the last part of the course students learn the techniques of two-dimensional forensic facial approximation. Using knowledge of head anatomy, and tissue depth data from the literature, each student will prepare detailed sketches (one man, one woman) based on a photograph of his and her skull. We will also learn about changes to the face over the life span and make sketches of older people based on photographs of them when young.

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisites:  None

This course is offered through the Kent Campus.  Please review course tuition at https://www.kent.edu/tuition to find costs for Kent campus tuition.