1924. Large 4to, pp. [ii], [x], 296; with over 468 illustrations within the text including photographs (some enhanced with additional colouring) and colour diagrams; some occasional minor foxing and soiling but otherwise clean and crisp; in the original black cloth, ruled in gilt and blind, spine lettered in gilt, head and tail a little nicked and worn, spine slightly faced, with light wear to surfaces and extremities, book block a little shaken, without the original dust-jacket; still a good copy. First Edition of this contribution to ‘a new genre of artistic anatomies originated in modern teaching methods for students of medicine whose main emphasis lies in the function of and correlation's between osteology and myology’ (Röhrl p. 278). ‘Perhaps the first scientific textbook in which an experiment was undertaken to expound the body’s functions and to explain the surface form for art students. In all chapters of the book, osteology and myology are explained in connection with each other. The work was developed from modern teaching methods for medical students. The complex structure is not understandable to readers without deeper medical knowledge’ (ibid, p. 424).
The physician Mollier (1866-1954) trained at the Munich Anatomical Institute, eventually becoming its director. In this role he taught anatomy courses for artists for over four decades, and in 1924 published the present work, considered by the Deutsche Biographie to be ‘a sophisticated and ground-breaking work’ of particular note for his precise functional analyses of movement. ‘The explanations begin with the foot and leg and a subdivision into functional areas is made so that the lower extremities, for example, are divided up in this order: foot, lower leg, ankle, thigh, knee joint, pelvis and hip joint. In this way, an arrangement into small parts which could all be explained separately was effected. The conception has several advantages, as the changes of the surface form during movement could be illustrated, for example, photographs of changes in the abdomen during respiration and of the visible parts of the skeletal framework during movement illustrate the text’ (ibid p. 279). Röhrl is however a little critical of the photographic material, which he notes ‘does not produce a very engaging effect. The models were photographed in unnatural and cramped poses that remind one of a circus. These stance might have been intended to demonstrate changes in the body’s surface in an extreme stretch of the joints and to show to what extent joints can be strained; yet, motion studies like these are not related to the depiction of the human figure in art’ (ibid). Some of the photographic poses are certainly reminiscent of those of the pioneering German bodybuilder Eugen Sandow (born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller 1867-1925), who travelled the world displaying his strongman prowess, establishing an institute of physical culture, and was highly influential in promoting and encouraging popular physical fitness. The present work clearly reflects this recent focus upon physicality, but to the modern eye, a number of the images make for uncomfortable viewing, redolent of the eugenics movement somehow. In subsequent years, however, Mollier was one of a few anatomists in the professional society the Anatomische Gesselschaft who challenged the measures demanded by the National Socialists in 1934 to transform the traditionally international society into a purely German entity and exclude “non-Aryan” members.
Hermann Sachs, the illustrator of Mollier’s work, was one of the leading German Expressionist artists of the first half of the 20th century. He spent the 1910s in Munich, where he founded the Munich School of Expressionists and no doubt became acquainted with Mollier. He moved to Los Angeles in 1925 and designed the interiors of many landmark Los Angeles buildings, including Union Station and the Los Angeles City Hall.