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
On est notre environnement. Série Euskadi 5
Aline Part
Photography - 67 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
£449
Matthew Barney, Cremaster 5
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 43.2 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17 x 24 x 0.1 inch
£3,373
Tissus associatif
Marianne Cresson
Sculpture - 135 x 50 x 11 cm Sculpture - 53.1 x 19.7 x 4.3 inch
£1,438
Déséquilibre 3/8
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 54 x 36 x 11 cm Sculpture - 21.3 x 14.2 x 4.3 inch
£6,290
Cuatro. From The series danza de las naranjas
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 61 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.1 inch
£3,373
Splashed emotions
Dzovig Arnelian
Painting - 48 x 38 x 0.2 cm Painting - 18.9 x 15 x 0.1 inch
£607 £486
Penelope and Hans (Immaculate Springs) starring Udo Kier, based on a Polaroid
Stefanie Schneider
Photography - 57 x 56 x 0.1 cm Photography - 22.4 x 22 x 0 inch
£2,067
Pasolini (Immaculate Springs) starring Jacinda Barrett, based on a Polaroid
Stefanie Schneider
Photography - 57 x 56 x 0.1 cm Photography - 22.4 x 22 x 0 inch
£2,067
Black Volta (Mouhoun) - Untitled n° 06
Adrien Bitibaly
Photography - 62.5 x 50 x 4 cm Photography - 24.6 x 19.7 x 1.6 inch
£1,797
A few stolen moments
Luca Brandi
Painting - 100 x 80 x 4.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.8 inch
£4,673
Desvelando Gaudí 07
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 53 x 40 cm Photography - 20.9 x 15.7 inch
£539
Desvelando Gaudí 09
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 53 x 40 cm Photography - 20.9 x 15.7 inch
£539
Look At My Hair, This is Who I Am
Olaosun Oluwapelumi
Painting - 94 x 88.9 x 2.5 cm Painting - 37 x 35 x 1 inch
£1,940
Un coeur à prendre
Alexandre Mijatovic
Sculpture - 43 x 25 x 25 cm Sculpture - 16.9 x 9.8 x 9.8 inch
£4,852
Never Settle for Less 1
Akande John
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 1 inch
£2,530
Smoke in her face 2
Sergey Bondarev
Painting - 125 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 49.2 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
£16,983
Smoke in her face 1
Sergey Bondarev
Painting - 125 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 49.2 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
£16,983
Dialogue à queue
Réjane LeChat
Sculpture - 44 x 44 x 15 cm Sculpture - 17.3 x 17.3 x 5.9 inch
£1,617
Pieds à terre
Alexandre Mijatovic
Sculpture - 30 x 15 x 15 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 5.9 x 5.9 inch
£2,965
Columbus (bubble wrap)
Brandon Vickerd
Sculpture - 61 x 30.5 x 27.9 cm Sculpture - 24 x 12 x 11 inch
£14,378
Enligtnment II
Magdalena Gronowska
Painting - 130 x 100 x 3.5 cm Painting - 51.2 x 39.4 x 1.4 inch
£5,930
N° 200 - The wizard boy
Mario Dilitz
Sculpture - 180 x 54 x 34 cm Sculpture - 70.9 x 21.3 x 13.4 inch
£37,741
Quotes, nude & nature WALK THE PATH OF BEAUTY - Series Hidden Treasures
Oswin Gesselli
Painting - 100 x 120 x 4 cm Painting - 39.4 x 47.2 x 1.6 inch
£5,302
Condition humaine
Michèle Magnien (Mileg)
Painting - 60 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
£674
The portrait of smiling Man 2
Munkhbolor Ganbold
Painting - 168 x 109 x 1 cm Painting - 66.1 x 42.9 x 0.4 inch
£6,066
La Recherche
Carlos Antonio Sablon Perez
Painting - 150 x 90 x 4 cm Painting - 59.1 x 35.4 x 1.6 inch
£10,783
Une larme 48-21
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 34 x 22 x 10 cm Sculpture - 13.4 x 8.7 x 3.9 inch
£899 £809
The plotting Conspirators
Suthamma (Ta) Byrne
Painting - 150 x 200 x 4 cm Painting - 59.1 x 78.7 x 1.6 inch
£5,818
Into the Darkness (small)
Jesus Torio
Photography - 22.8 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 9 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
£629
The Fall (medium)
Jesus Torio
Photography - 59.4 x 83.44 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.4 x 32.9 x 0.1 inch
£1,168
The Waiting Room III (Lockdown) - (small)
Jesus Torio
Photography - 59.4 x 41.27 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.4 x 16.2 x 0.1 inch
£629
The Lovers (small)
Jesus Torio
Photography - 42 x 58.61 x 0.2 cm Photography - 16.5 x 23.1 x 0.1 inch
£629
Untitled 9
Boshra Mustafa
Fine Art Drawings - 26 x 28 x 1.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 10.2 x 11 x 0.6 inch
£506
Wrapping Bonbon Peint 'Bagatelle'
Laurence Jenkell
Sculpture - 80 x 27 x 20 cm Sculpture - 31.5 x 10.6 x 7.9 inch
£26,958
Ophélie Winter Top 10
Klaus Roethlisberger
Photography - 70 x 57 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 22.4 x 0.1 inch
£800
Waiting For The Sun
Tinatin Bakhtadze
Painting - 115 x 165 x 3 cm Painting - 45.3 x 65 x 1.2 inch
£4,942
Throat of a Rose
Hollie Miller
Photography - 35.2 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 13.9 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
£1,258
Rebus
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 129 x 20 x 20 cm Sculpture - 50.8 x 7.9 x 7.9 inch
£3,055
Annette
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 120 x 24 x 24 cm Sculpture - 47.2 x 9.4 x 9.4 inch
£4,313
Germaine
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 104 x 18 x 18 cm Sculpture - 40.9 x 7.1 x 7.1 inch
£3,235
Ballet Practice
Paul J Bucknall
Photography - 45.7 x 30.5 x 0 cm Photography - 18 x 12 x 0.01 inch
£425
Like A Wild Flower
Akif Hakan
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
£494
On the old quay
Zhivko Mutafchiev
Painting - 95 x 120 x 2.5 cm Painting - 37.4 x 47.2 x 1 inch
£2,246
Allium
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 123 x 20 x 20 cm Sculpture - 48.4 x 7.9 x 7.9 inch
£2,606
Niki
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 130 x 24 x 24 cm Sculpture - 51.2 x 9.4 x 9.4 inch
£4,313
The Third Rome
Alexander Sviyazov
Sculpture - 236 x 145 x 214 cm Sculpture - 92.9 x 57.1 x 84.3 inch
£107,832
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.