Animal
Animals are often featured in news, sometimes in heartwarming tales of human and animal companionship and other times in heartbreaking stories of illegal trade and endangered species. Animals are even present in social sciences, especially thank to ethology (behavioural sciences of animals in their natural habitat). They have fascinated philosophers from Antiquity all the way through to today and they are even present in the medical realm, as the benefits of animal-assisted therapies have been scientifically proven.
The relationship between humans and animals is also taken into account in the politics, most notably when debating topics related to ecology, the protection of ecosystems and sustainable development. Thus, animals might be seen as a crucial indicator of humanity's concerns.
As well in these many sectors, animals are also very much present in the arts. A number of art museums have decided exhibitions to animals including the Cluny Museum in Paris and MoMA PS1 in New York. Whether simply a humble spectator in an 18th century painting or the central subject of a Courbet painting, animals are present throughout the history of art. From symbolic, to esthetic, to abstract, to animal drawings meant to simply record their appearance...all these representations have played a role in influencing artists and also how we characterise and think of individual animals.
Each civilisation has represented the animal on multiples supports (mosaics, metal, stone, bones, etc.) as seen on the Nerja cave wall paintings in Andalusia discovered in 1925. Animal iconography has had multiple purposes, varying according to the era and place. Bats, for example, are often used to represent death, fear or superstition in Western art, whereas the Chinese see them as a sign of happiness. The omnipresence of animals within cultures across the globe is probably down to the similarities between men and animal, a source of both fascination and fear.
In this selection, Artsper helps you to discover the beauty of the animal kingdom, its diversity, strength and fragility. Artists depict animals in a huge range of mediums: sculpture, painting, photographs, and drawings. Contemporary artists bring an original and poetic vision to their representations of the animals with whom we share our world.
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Der Bär - Gold - The Bear Gold Leaf Edition
Markus Lüpertz
Sculpture - 40 x 14 x 11 cm Sculpture - 15.7 x 5.5 x 4.3 inch
$17,882
Mon Cartier Blue and black panthers number 1
Lee Berthille
Sculpture - 45 x 140 x 31 cm Sculpture - 17.7 x 55.1 x 12.2 inch
$3,696
The Cat
Marie-Paulette Lagosse
Fine Art Drawings - 25 x 32 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.8 x 12.6 x 0 inch
$775
Crouched Lioness and Rabbits
Wilhelm Lorenz
Fine Art Drawings - 36 x 44.5 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 14.2 x 17.5 x 0.1 inch
$656
Happy Pink Horse 2001 Le cheval rose joyeux
Frédéric Menguy
Print - 20 x 20 cm Print - 7.9 x 7.9 inch
$942
Tête d'autruche 3
François Gruson
Fine Art Drawings - 59 x 36 x 0.01 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.2 x 14.2 x 0 inch
$2,146
Deux chiens de compagnie
Charles II Van den Eycken
Painting - 17.5 x 24 x 1 cm Painting - 6.9 x 9.4 x 0.4 inch
$1,760
La chasse à courre en Irlande
Vincent Haddelsey
Print - 37.5 x 54.5 cm Print - 14.8 x 21.5 inch
$119
Lucky catcher
Volodymyr Mykytenko
Sculpture - 31 x 12 x 10 cm Sculpture - 12.2 x 4.7 x 3.9 inch
$2,300
1964 Le chat The cat
François Ozenda
Painting - 6.5 x 6.5 x 0.3 cm Painting - 2.6 x 2.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,133 $566
Deux chiens
Katsuhiko Hibino
Fine Art Drawings - 22.5 x 29.5 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.9 x 11.6 x 0 inch
$775
The Lady and the Peacock
Carlos Gamez de Francisco
Painting - 61 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 24 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch
$5,484
Sans titre #2
Zahra Zeinali
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 inch
$2,980
Ours marchant
Marie-Josèphe Stenne
Sculpture - 18 x 37.5 x 12.5 cm Sculpture - 7.1 x 14.8 x 4.9 inch
$811
Homar'ie si tu savais
Christopher Lecoutre
Painting - 40 x 40 x 3 cm Painting - 15.7 x 15.7 x 1.2 inch
$775
Bastet
Corné Akkers
Fine Art Drawings - 21.1 x 28.2 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 11.1 x 0.1 inch
$1,598
Femme au panier de fleurs sauvages
Edouard Duparc
Painting - 50 x 76 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 29.9 x 0.8 inch
$1,594
Paysans et chevaux avec charrue
Gûo
Painting - 48 x 58 x 0.5 cm Painting - 18.9 x 22.8 x 0.2 inch
$1,875
Sweet Dragon Gentil
Laurent Garcin
Sculpture - 30 x 40 x 12 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 15.7 x 4.7 inch
$1,133
A Victor et Yolaine
Théo Tobiasse
Fine Art Drawings - 24 x 19 x 0.05 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.4 x 7.5 x 0 inch
$358 $322
Les Moutons
François-Xavier Lalanne
Painting - 21 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 8.3 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$33,380
Dermatoglifo Invadente
Vanessa Bonino
Sculpture - 88 x 66 x 48 cm Sculpture - 34.6 x 26 x 18.9 inch
$2,980
Hypomnema 4
Ivan Castiblanco
Sculpture - 74.9 x 74.9 x 33.8 cm Sculpture - 29.5 x 29.5 x 13.3 inch
$2,500
Ballon Dog Gold and Chupa Chups green
Koen Betjes
Sculpture - 13 x 13 x 9 cm Sculpture - 5.1 x 5.1 x 3.5 inch
$495 $446
Fig.12 Seahorse
Rick Marlowe Schneider
Painting - 121.9 x 61 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 24 x 1 inch
$600
Mythological composition
Spas Kirichev
Sculpture - 29 x 32 x 13 cm Sculpture - 11.4 x 12.6 x 5.1 inch
$3,040
Panama (Baby Elephant)
Thomas Turner
Sculpture - 64 x 48 x 10 cm Sculpture - 25.2 x 18.9 x 3.9 inch
$1,431
