Human body
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Avant le combat III
Jean-Marie Gitard (Mr Strange)
Print - 49 x 49 x 0.1 cm Print - 19.3 x 19.3 x 0 inch
$340
Equilibriste
Alexandre Mijatovic
Sculpture - 48 x 25 x 32 cm Sculpture - 18.9 x 9.8 x 12.6 inch
$5,798
Comment pleurent les hommes
Alexandre Mijatovic
Sculpture - 50 x 20 x 20 cm Sculpture - 19.7 x 7.9 x 7.9 inch
$6,821
Barca de Refugiados
Celso Castro
Painting - 114.3 x 149.9 x 0.3 cm Painting - 45 x 59 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Faces
Agnieszka Staak-Janczarska
Sculpture - 50 x 63 x 63 cm Sculpture - 19.7 x 24.8 x 24.8 inch
$4,433
Green Lantern
Benjamin Olatunji
Painting - 152.4 x 121.9 x 2.5 cm Painting - 60 x 48 x 1 inch
$6,000
Arara III - Guacamaya. Cultura Kayapó, Brasil
Antonio Briceño
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$7,730
Arara II - Guacamaya. Cultura Kayapó, Brasil
Antonio Briceño
Photography - 120 x 144 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 56.7 x 0 inch
$7,730
Arara - Guacamaya. Cultura Kayapó, Brasil
Antonio Briceño
Photography - 120 x 144 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 56.7 x 0 inch
$7,730
Makunaima - Aprendiz de chamán. Cultura Pemón, Venezuela
Antonio Briceño
Photography - 70 x 200 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 78.7 x 0 inch
$7,730
À moitié là
Guillaume Chevallard
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$1,364
Le sorcier
Geneviève Seillé
Fine Art Drawings - 130 x 74 cm Fine Art Drawings - 51.2 x 29.1 inch
$4,433
Still Life with a Metal Torso, Paris
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 152.4 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$7,000
Louise
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 127 x 24 x 24 cm Sculpture - 50 x 9.4 x 9.4 inch
$6,025
Blooming Flower II - From the Desert Flower series
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Blossoming, Italy - From the Desert Flower series
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Le Folding' à l'amble flottant
Bruno Mallart
Fine Art Drawings - 102 x 181 x 4 cm Fine Art Drawings - 40.2 x 71.3 x 1.6 inch
$15,915
Columbus (bubble wrap)
Brandon Vickerd
Sculpture - 61 x 30.5 x 27.9 cm Sculpture - 24 x 12 x 11 inch
$18,188
Cast 2 (Muse)
Ajegbomogun Damilola
Painting - 135.1 x 124 x 2.5 cm Painting - 53.2 x 48.8 x 1 inch
$4,400
TuTu Cerise (AJ44)
Adrienne Jalbert
Sculpture - 42 x 64 x 68 cm Sculpture - 16.5 x 25.2 x 26.8 inch
$21,599
Marie de Nazareth dans sa Cuisine après L'Annonciation
Evelyne Huet
Print - 120 x 90 x 2 cm Print - 47.2 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$7,389
Craving You
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 76 x 56 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.9 x 22 x 0 inch
$1,080
Vanité
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 76 x 56 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.9 x 22 x 0 inch
$1,080
Divas, champagne & blablabla VI
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 65 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0 inch
$966
Just Waiting
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 56 x 76 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22 x 29.9 x 0 inch
$1,080
La Mangrove
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 76 x 56 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.9 x 22 x 0 inch
$1,080
Retiens moi encore un peu
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 76 x 56 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.9 x 22 x 0 inch
$1,307
Elle & Moi #4
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 56 x 76 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22 x 29.9 x 0 inch
$1,080
Couple de grue cendré. Parc de Tarangire. Tanzanie
Dominique Leroy
Photography - 90 x 70 x 2 cm Photography - 35.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$909
Boccacce (trittico)
Rossella Mercedes
Fine Art Drawings - 14.8 x 63 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 5.8 x 24.8 x 0.1 inch
$171
About last night, encore et encore
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$909
Sandrah # 2
Andreas Sundgren
Photography - 140 x 105 x 0.1 cm Photography - 55.1 x 41.3 x 0 inch
$3,471
Under the blue sky alone I celebrate
Melinda Matyas
Painting - 90 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$7,844
Buffle sous le pont d'Agra, Taj Mahal. Inde
Dominique Leroy
Photography - 70 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,591
Repos du Zèbre. Parc de Tarangire. Tanzanie
Dominique Leroy
Photography - 70 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$909
Untitled- Portrait
Celso Castro
Painting - 121.9 x 92.7 x 0.3 cm Painting - 48 x 36.5 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Duchándome en Cuerpo Ajeno May 30th
Celso Castro
Fine Art Drawings - 49.5 x 34.9 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.5 x 13.75 x 0.1 inch
$500
Naomi Campbell
Thierry Le Gouès
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$6,764
Bonbon Orange Candy Papillote argent
Arson
Sculpture - 60 x 17 x 14 cm Sculpture - 23.6 x 6.7 x 5.5 inch
$2,728
Bonbon Rose Candy Papillotte argent
Arson
Sculpture - 60 x 17 x 14 cm Sculpture - 23.6 x 6.7 x 5.5 inch
$2,728
Esprits d'Amour
Emilie Teillaud
Painting - 162 x 114 x 3 cm Painting - 63.8 x 44.9 x 1.2 inch
$5,115
Montagne Yogi 65-22
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 27 x 18 x 10 cm Sculpture - 10.6 x 7.1 x 3.9 inch
$1,080
Ignorance 4
Mehnoush Modonpour
Sculpture - 58 x 48 x 48 cm Sculpture - 22.8 x 18.9 x 18.9 inch
$4,206
Ignorance 3
Mehnoush Modonpour
Sculpture - 59 x 46 x 49 cm Sculpture - 23.2 x 18.1 x 19.3 inch
$4,206
Marx (bubble wrap)
Brandon Vickerd
Sculpture - 61 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm Sculpture - 24 x 12 x 12 inch
$29,556
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.