Art: Muscles by Masters

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The U.S.'s Thomas Eakins, who died in 1916, was the last of the great painters who wielded both brush and scalpel. Today, dissection is virtually unknown among painters. But, even though modern artists have done their best to distort and destroy the human form in their work, they still cannot get away from anatomy. Draftsmen like Dali and Tchelitchew go back to the medical books, delight in drawing bloodshot eyes and weird faces with veins and sinews outlined through glassy skin. Even Picasso and Matisse (some of whose drawings are in the exhibit) owe a debt to the Renaissance's Antonio Pollaiuolo and the dissectionists. With a few deft strokes of their pens, the two great moderns suggest, with pride and perfection, a woman kneeling or a languid nude.

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