Human body
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N° 825 La belle personne 2.
R. Cavalié
Fine Art Drawings - 56 x 65 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22 x 25.6 x 0.1 inch
£178
Miss Vador et sa cape
Loran Romain
Painting - 116 x 81 x 2 cm Painting - 45.7 x 31.9 x 0.8 inch
£1,777
Essence masculine murale
Miguel Guía
Sculpture - 59 x 47 x 11.5 cm Sculpture - 23.2 x 18.5 x 4.5 inch
£1,226
Alain Montanguon, L'espoir
Alain Montanguon
Sculpture - 49 x 20 x 22 cm Sculpture - 19.3 x 7.9 x 8.7 inch
£1,777
The Cyclops
Louis Berthomme Saint-Andre
Fine Art Drawings - 28 x 23 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11 x 9.1 x 0 inch
£222
Jose antonio, Martes 7 de julio
Celso Castro
Painting - 152.4 x 96.5 x 0.3 cm Painting - 60 x 38 x 0.1 inch
£2,488
Edwin Carrillo, 24 de junio
Celso Castro
Painting - 101.6 x 73.7 x 0.3 cm Painting - 40 x 29 x 0.1 inch
£2,073
Jose el velezolano, Sabado 25 de junio
Celso Castro
Painting - 101.6 x 73.7 x 0.3 cm Painting - 40 x 29 x 0.1 inch
£2,073
Hommage à Terpsichore
Salvador Dali
Sculpture - 70.5 x 44 x 23 cm Sculpture - 27.8 x 17.3 x 9.1 inch
£36,419
The midnight espresso
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 100 x 70 x 1.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.6 inch
£1,777
Dos féminin
Frédérique Maillart
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 20 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£427
Goddess Seins II
FabEnt (Fabrice Entemeyer)
Sculpture - 19.5 x 8 x 8 cm Sculpture - 7.7 x 3.1 x 3.1 inch
£533
She received a kiss in the soul
Reinaldo Chavez
Painting - 27.5 x 22 x 0.3 cm Painting - 10.8 x 8.7 x 0.1 inch
£258
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
£258
Serie "Anna. Moscow"
Stanley Greene
Photography - 10.8 x 8.9 x 1 cm Photography - 4.3 x 3.5 x 0.4 inch
£444
Union
Franceleine Debellefontaine
Sculpture - 39 x 18 x 12 cm Sculpture - 15.4 x 7.1 x 4.7 inch
£4,266
La peur
Christophe Hohler
Fine Art Drawings - 76 x 55.5 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.9 x 21.9 x 0.1 inch
£1,600
Deconstruccion III
Amancio Gonzalez
Sculpture - 76 x 73.5 x 25 cm Sculpture - 29.9 x 28.9 x 9.8 inch
£4,444
Deconstruccion IV
Amancio Gonzalez
Sculpture - 60.7 x 51.6 x 32 cm Sculpture - 23.9 x 20.3 x 12.6 inch
£3,910
Woman and Tropical Landscapes
Jorge Carruana
Painting - 135 x 100 x 1 cm Painting - 53.1 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
£4,266
Whimsical dance
Lia Chechelashvili
Painting - 71.1 x 50.8 x 2.5 cm Painting - 28 x 20 x 1 inch
£2,463
Multitude
Lia Chechelashvili
Fine Art Drawings - 76.2 x 55.9 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 22 x 0.1 inch
£2,484
Dancing Lovers
Suthamma (Ta) Byrne
Painting - 200 x 200 x 4 cm Painting - 78.7 x 78.7 x 1.6 inch
£6,177
Le partage du Midi
Ksenia Milicevic
Painting - 130 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 51.2 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
£4,799
The impossible move
Laurent Proneur
Painting - 152.4 x 121.9 x 5.1 cm Painting - 60 x 48 x 2 inch
£30,685
Looking for the exit
Laurent Proneur
Painting - 152.4 x 121.9 x 5.1 cm Painting - 60 x 48 x 2 inch
£30,685
Art d'être IV
Cécile Baldewyns
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.04 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£711
Ce qu'il restait de ces murs fleuris
Xavier Jallais
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
£3,110
J'ai traversé tant de frontières
Xavier Jallais
Painting - 100 x 80 x 5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 2 inch
£2,355
Au fil des continents
Xavier Jallais
Painting - 100 x 80 x 5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 2 inch
£2,355
Desnudas en el sofá
Jordi Turbau
Painting - 81 x 101.6 x 3 cm Painting - 31.9 x 40 x 1.2 inch
£2,311
Dos hermanas y una amiga
Jordi Turbau
Painting - 73 x 92 x 3 cm Painting - 28.7 x 36.2 x 1.2 inch
£1,955
Sculpture de lumière
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 70 x 50 x 0.6 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
£1,333
In the shade
Mourad Cherifi
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.02 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
£1,066
Discus thrower's torso
Barry Davies
Sculpture - 60 x 48 x 25 cm Sculpture - 23.6 x 18.9 x 9.8 inch
£1,298
Pavarti Retrouvailles
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 52 x 24 x 12 cm Sculpture - 20.5 x 9.4 x 4.7 inch
£1,111
Vibrant célébration
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 109 x 125 x 0.6 cm Painting - 42.9 x 49.2 x 0.2 inch
£5,243
Nike, Louvre, Selfportrait.
Chiara Mazzocchi
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
£440
Unione, Selfportrait
Chiara Mazzocchi
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
£440
Grande Figure assise I
Pierre Yermia
Sculpture - 111 x 24 x 22 cm Sculpture - 43.7 x 9.4 x 8.7 inch
£8,265
Grande Figure Debout II
Pierre Yermia
Sculpture - 140 x 26 x 24 cm Sculpture - 55.1 x 10.2 x 9.4 inch
£10,131
Graceful Dualité
Hildegarde Handsaeme
Painting - 70 x 50 x 4 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 1.6 inch
£2,222
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.