Human body
Save your search and find it in your favorites
Saved search
Your search is accessible from the favorites tab > My favorite searches
Unsaved search
A problem occurred
Lectrice dans ses pensées
Carl Jaunay
Sculpture - 35 x 28 x 33 cm Sculpture - 13.8 x 11 x 13 inch
$4,060
Lectrice main sur genoux série 35
Carl Jaunay
Sculpture - 33 x 23 x 35 cm Sculpture - 13 x 9.1 x 13.8 inch
$4,060
De ses filles, de son vin, un français peut être vain
Jean Cocteau
Print - 38 x 28 x 0.2 cm Print - 15 x 11 x 0.1 inch
$1,696
Réflexion
Nathalie Camoin-Chanet
Sculpture - 37 x 14 x 10 cm Sculpture - 14.6 x 5.5 x 3.9 inch
$4,750
Play of light
Lesya Rozova
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.01 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,357
Eternity of Magnolia, original painting by Tetiana Pchelnykova (1) (1)
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 70 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$961
Thoughts: The Eve Within
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 90 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,414
Self-Perception: Night and Day
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 60 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$1,414
Guardians of the Primordial Woods
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 80 x 60 x 1.8 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.7 inch
$2,137
Whisper of the Soul , Myths Series
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 50 x 50 x 1.8 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.7 inch
$1,108
Reflections at Dawn, Thoughts series.Triptych.
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 60 x 100 x 1.8 cm Painting - 23.6 x 39.4 x 0.7 inch
$1,470
Echoes of the Forest
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 60 x 80 x 1.8 cm Painting - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.7 inch
$1,809
Harmony in Bloom
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$2,036
Journey to the inner Abode
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$1,221
Contemplations by the river
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 90 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,640
I still don't know how to love
Joann Côté
Painting - 106.7 x 134.6 x 5.1 cm Painting - 42 x 53 x 2 inch
$3,550
Mauricio Bodegon diptych. From los vendedores series
Celso Castro
Photography - 68.6 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Andrés diptych. From identidad series
Celso Castro
Photography - 68.6 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Fabian diptych. From the pre-Columbian fantasy series
Celso Castro
Photography - 68.6 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Untitled (Identity promises series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 40 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,923
#11. From La Piedra Sustituta II Series
José Sierra
Photography - 101.6 x 67.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 26.6 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
De la série : La beauté des femmes - Siesta
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 15 x 23 cm Photography - 5.9 x 9.1 inch
$1,357
De la série : La beauté des femmes - Dido
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 18 x 24 cm Photography - 7.1 x 9.4 inch
$1,357
Man running, Woman running
Milburn-Foster
Painting - 92 x 120 x 3 cm Painting - 36.2 x 47.2 x 1.2 inch
$7,690
Brodlim x Julien Raynaud
Julien Raynaud
Design - 105 x 155 x 3 cm Design - 41.3 x 61 x 1.2 inch
$2,488
Le voyage au bout du monde
Linde Ergo
Sculpture - 48 x 71 x 76 cm Sculpture - 18.9 x 28 x 29.9 inch
$14,702
Eole II
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 72 x 12 x 12 cm Sculpture - 28.3 x 4.7 x 4.7 inch
$1,018
Songe
Merry Kerpitchian (Merry K)
Sculpture - 11 x 60 x 18 cm Sculpture - 4.3 x 23.6 x 7.1 inch
$2,205
Salamba bleu Outre-mer
Merry Kerpitchian (Merry K)
Sculpture - 45 x 32 x 17 cm Sculpture - 17.7 x 12.6 x 6.7 inch
$2,092
Le triangle parfait
Merry Kerpitchian (Merry K)
Sculpture - 25 x 22 x 12 cm Sculpture - 9.8 x 8.7 x 4.7 inch
$1,685
A la derecha !! - A la izquierda !!
Soy Roy
Painting - 100 x 80 x 8 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 3.1 inch
$3,019
Pensando & recordando a Luis Caballero
Celso Castro
Painting - 49.5 x 34.9 x 0.3 cm Painting - 19.5 x 13.75 x 0.1 inch
$600
Maha-Kali
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 100 x 80 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
$2,827
De la série : La beauté des femmes - On the warpath
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 20 x 15 cm Photography - 7.9 x 5.9 inch
$1,357
De la série : La beauté des femmes - upwards
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 15 x 20 cm Photography - 5.9 x 7.9 inch
$1,357
De la série : La beauté des femmes - coquetry
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 15 x 20 cm Photography - 5.9 x 7.9 inch
$1,357
Grondement de corps
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 30 x 24 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$141
Torso existencial 3/8
Alberto Ascaso
Sculpture - 45 x 10 x 10 cm Sculpture - 17.7 x 3.9 x 3.9 inch
$3,280
13 Novembre 2015 en France et tous les Jours Maudits dans le Monde
Martine Haeuw
Photography - 150 x 100 x 1 cm Photography - 59.1 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
$2,036
Jeune femme et Cupidon
Henri Fehr
Fine Art Drawings - 25 x 18 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.8 x 7.1 x 0.1 inch
$709
Human body
'I wanted to conquer the world. But I also desperately wanted to understand human nature, and to know what was inside our bodies. To do this, I have spent whole night dissecting bodies, against the direct orders of the Pope. Nothing disgusts me. What I am looking for, truly, in all of my work and particularly in my painting, what I have looked for all my life, is to understand the mystery that is human nature' – from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century.
At the time of writing these notes, da Vinci had already made greater understanding of the human body the primary objective of his investigations. Dissection and study were key to his development of a holistic knowledge of anatomy, which da Vinci believed was vital to the perfect rendering of the nude figures which he painted and drew.
Little by little, the traditional image of the human figure was uprooted and in its place new ways of interpreting the body developed. Contemporary artists relentlessly questioned the traditional codes of figure drawing, liberally reworking the representation of the body to create a new image that was dislocated, geometric, deformed and disfigured.
The body as an artistic subject is at once desired, fantasised, dreamt, transformed, deformed. For painters, photographers and sculptors alike the body represents a rite of passage in their artistic development. Many people say that they most appreciate the talents of an artists by way of their control over the complexity of the figure. For example, it's clear even in Matisse's later, more abstract collages that he had perfectly mastered the human form.
Representation of the body is fundamental to Western art: first and foremost because it suggests a representation of the self, and therefore affirms the artist's own existence and coexistence with the environment that surrounds them. At the beginning of art history, the only bodies represented were the gods, supernatural beings, and spirits who had taken on human form. The body, nude or clothed, is at once one of the most widely depicted and most deeply polemical subjects in Western art (think of the scandals provoked by Courbet's 'Origins of the World', or Renoir's 'Picnic on the Grass').
The body has always been the primary subject of an array of themes, and its history is rich and ancient. Initially, depiction of the body was closely linked to religion, where the Word became flesh in Genesis, but later in more secular times the arousal of the artist when faced with the body made for an equally popular theme. Latterly the notion of the body as an object of beauty was subverted by Cubism until depictions of bodies no longer bore any resemblance to reality or made any pretence of respecting the rules of proportion.
Finally, in modern art the body has taken on an abstract shape within space, becoming one with the environment. In some instances, the body has become the artist's own support, as with Klein's models. The body as an abstract concept is tangible in many different manifestations in art, even in pieces as unassuming as some of Rothko's paintings. It remains the subject of inexhaustible inspiration and eternal debate.