I have Stonehouse's Anatomy in the English version since April. They've thankfully deleted some of the more obviously racist content. I don't want to open this huge can of worms further than it was already opened here, but it has to be said, respectfully, that I can not agree with the sentiment that people should just "get over it". This is a book about art education that is supposedly based on scientific discovery, and I frequently found the scientific facts to be plainly wrong. This becomes especially obvious when Stonehouse describes a whole lot of supposedly 'natural' 'biological' feminine traits that can only be found in the Asian world. It's a beautiful book, and although I didn't find its content to be as helpful as I'd hoped, it's a great addition to my art instruction shelf. But this book is as flawed as Gottfried Bammes' "Gestalt des Menschen", where the GDR's horrible state ideology often just pours out. These flaws are inherent to the work. You remove the flaws, you destroy the work. Nobody wants that. Of course you can continue to use and enjoy these art instruction books, and I frequently do, but to ignore their problematic stances is the definition of dilletantism. With great artistic power and knowledge comes great responsibility. Don't ignore these problems, understand them, talk about them, acknowledge them. Only then can we take from this book what it was meant for, by the author, in the first place.
I have Stonehouse's Anatomy in the English version since April. They've thankfully deleted some of the more obviously racist content. I don't want to open this huge can of worms further than it was already opened here, but it has to be said, respectfully, that I can not agree with the sentiment that people should just "get over it". This is a book about art education that is supposedly based on scientific discovery, and I frequently found the scientific facts to be plainly wrong. This becomes especially obvious when Stonehouse describes a whole lot of supposedly 'natural' 'biological' feminine traits that can only be found in the Asian world. It's a beautiful book, and although I didn't find its content to be as helpful as I'd hoped, it's a great addition to my art instruction shelf. But this book is as flawed as Gottfried Bammes' "Gestalt des Menschen", where the GDR's horrible state ideology often just pours out. These flaws are inherent to the work. You remove the flaws, you destroy the work. Nobody wants that. Of course you can continue to use and enjoy these art instruction books, and I frequently do, but to ignore their problematic stances is the definition of dilletantism. With great artistic power and knowledge comes great responsibility. Don't ignore these problems, understand them, talk about them, acknowledge them. Only then can we take from this book what it was meant for, by the author, in the first place.