Human body
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Nuages et pluie
Qiongfei Zhang
Painting - 140 x 260 x 4 cm Painting - 55.1 x 102.4 x 1.6 inch
$16,522
Tono - Hombre de bosque. Cultura Kayapó, Brasil
Antonio Briceño
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$7,695
Merged with her in a glance
Reinaldo Chavez
Painting - 27.5 x 22 x 0.3 cm Painting - 10.8 x 8.7 x 0.1 inch
$328
Loin du monde
Claire Bonnet-Masimbert
Painting - 96 x 147 x 5 cm Painting - 37.8 x 57.9 x 2 inch
$2,829
Langue de danseuse
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 24 x 16 x 0.1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 6.3 x 0 inch
$339
Marriage contract
Zianko Vasili
Painting - 140 x 100 x 0.2 cm Painting - 55.1 x 39.4 x 0.1 inch
$4,187
There are no coincidences II
Mary Rozzi
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 inch
$1,358
There are no coincidences I
Mary Rozzi
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 inch
$1,358
3 LegShow Rose
Eric Neveu
Photography - 70 x 70 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,697
3 LegShow Bleu
Eric Neveu
Photography - 70 x 70 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,697
The gift of the handcuffs
Idan Wizen
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$509
Dolie aux nattes,
Jacques Coquillay
Sculpture - 50 x 20 x 18 cm Sculpture - 19.7 x 7.9 x 7.1 inch
$9,053
La sastelroussine
Jacques Coquillay
Sculpture - 47 x 30 x 9 cm Sculpture - 18.5 x 11.8 x 3.5 inch
$7,921
Apex, the wings
Paige Bradley
Sculpture - 83.8 x 43.2 x 58.4 cm Sculpture - 33 x 17 x 23 inch
$12,500
La paire de chaussures
Jacques Coquillay
Sculpture - 72 x 44 x 25 cm Sculpture - 28.3 x 17.3 x 9.8 inch
$16,974
La grappe de la terre promise
Ivan Theimer
Sculpture - 32 x 38 x 15 cm Sculpture - 12.6 x 15 x 5.9 inch
$36,212
Buste femme doré
Jérôme Sorolla "Le parrain des arts"
Sculpture - 80 x 45 x 45 cm Sculpture - 31.5 x 17.7 x 17.7 inch
$905
Buste de femme argentée
Jérôme Sorolla "Le parrain des arts"
Sculpture - 80 x 45 x 45 cm Sculpture - 31.5 x 17.7 x 17.7 inch
$905
La Songeuse
Christian Candelier
Sculpture - 95 x 39 x 32 cm Sculpture - 37.4 x 15.4 x 12.6 inch
$13,580
Academia (Maquette), The Dancers (Blue)
Paige Bradley
Sculpture - 64.8 x 48.3 x 25.4 cm Sculpture - 25.5 x 19 x 10 inch
$11,850
Lycidas (Diptych), n.d. Large
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 inch
$12,000
Bow, The Goddess
Paige Bradley
Sculpture - 99.1 x 53.3 x 30.5 cm Sculpture - 39 x 21 x 12 inch
$24,000
Expansion (Third Life) w/electricity, The Metamorphosis
Paige Bradley
Sculpture - 47 x 53.3 x 24.1 cm Sculpture - 18.5 x 21 x 9.5 inch
$18,500
Adam et Eve chassés de l'Eden
Lionel le Jeune
Sculpture - 29 x 24 x 12 cm Sculpture - 11.4 x 9.4 x 4.7 inch
$1,075
Goddess Seins II
FabEnt (Fabrice Entemeyer)
Sculpture - 19.5 x 8 x 8 cm Sculpture - 7.7 x 3.1 x 3.1 inch
$679
Collection Purity - Un Anonyme Nu Dans Le Salon - HB1809
Idan Wizen
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$170
Collection Purity - Un Anonyme Nu Dans Le Salon - HB1552
Idan Wizen
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$170
Meditation in the heart of nature
Dasha Pogodina
Painting - 60 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$543
Gárgara detail III
Léa Bon
Photography - 9.9 x 15 x 0.3 cm Photography - 3.9 x 5.9 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Garden of ethernity 3
Lukas Dvorak
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,950
Acrobate (sur un bras)
Guillaume Roche
Sculpture - 70 x 40 x 20 cm Sculpture - 27.6 x 15.7 x 7.9 inch
$4,074
Slava Ukraini 18-04-22
Corné Akkers
Painting - 70.1 x 100.1 x 99.1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 39.4 x 39 inch
$15,883
Torsion
Merry Kerpitchian (Merry K)
Sculpture - 14 x 58 x 20 cm Sculpture - 5.5 x 22.8 x 7.9 inch
$2,818
Luna
Alexandra Kapogianni-Beth
Sculpture - 81 x 36 x 26 cm Sculpture - 31.9 x 14.2 x 10.2 inch
$7,978
Lonely
Alexandra Kapogianni-Beth
Sculpture - 54 x 53 x 29 cm Sculpture - 21.3 x 20.9 x 11.4 inch
$8,431
Narkissos
Alexandra Kapogianni-Beth
Sculpture - 90 x 38 x 28 cm Sculpture - 35.4 x 15 x 11 inch
$11,296
Duo de Muses 12-24
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 30 x 11 x 10 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 4.3 x 3.9 inch
$1,075
Dancing Lovers
Suthamma (Ta) Byrne
Painting - 200 x 200 x 4 cm Painting - 78.7 x 78.7 x 1.6 inch
$7,865
La fille à la fenêtre
Franck Rozet
Photography - 100 x 50 x 0.6 cm Photography - 39.4 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$2,829
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.