Human body
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Lovers - Pure love 1
Carmen Tyrrell
Painting - 63 x 51.1 x 0.3 cm Painting - 24.8 x 20.1 x 0.1 inch
£597
Lovers - Pure love 2
Carmen Tyrrell
Painting - 63 x 51.1 x 0.3 cm Painting - 24.8 x 20.1 x 0.1 inch
£597
Lovers - Pure love 3
Carmen Tyrrell
Painting - 63 x 51.1 x 0.3 cm Painting - 24.8 x 20.1 x 0.1 inch
£597
Lovers - I am yours
Carmen Tyrrell
Painting - 59.9 x 50 x 1.5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.6 inch
£673
Lovers -You are mine
Carmen Tyrrell
Painting - 59.9 x 50 x 1.5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.6 inch
£673
Lovers at sunset 2
Carmen Tyrrell
Painting - 59.9 x 50 x 1.5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.6 inch
£706
Lovers at sunset 3
Carmen Tyrrell
Painting - 59.9 x 50 x 1.5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.6 inch
£706
La petite tresse
Jacques Coquillay
Sculpture - 22 x 15.5 x 12 cm Sculpture - 8.7 x 6.1 x 4.7 inch
£3,199 £2,879
La Maculée conception (Madone barbelée)
Yves Hayat
Print - 150 x 100 x 4 cm Print - 59.1 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
£6,665
Les trois demoiselles
Robert Koumassadouno
Painting - 110 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 43.3 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
£1,111
La crème était presque parfaite
Petites Luxures
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 inch
£800
No55 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 96 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 37.8 x 0 inch
£2,328
Se la couler douche
Petites Luxures
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 inch
£800
No45 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,328
Ondine série corps de femme
Chantal Molinié Jonquet
Sculpture - 11 x 48 x 21 cm Sculpture - 4.3 x 18.9 x 8.3 inch
£3,519
Désinvolte série corps de femme
Chantal Molinié Jonquet
Sculpture - 44 x 19 x 29 cm Sculpture - 17.3 x 7.5 x 11.4 inch
£4,088
La conquérante série corps de femme
Chantal Molinié Jonquet
Sculpture - 33 x 45 x 20 cm Sculpture - 13 x 17.7 x 7.9 inch
£3,999
Repos série corps d'homme
Chantal Molinié Jonquet
Sculpture - 21 x 14 x 17 cm Sculpture - 8.3 x 5.5 x 6.7 inch
£2,044
Petite affirmation série corps de femme
Chantal Molinié Jonquet
Sculpture - 23 x 19 x 15 cm Sculpture - 9.1 x 7.5 x 5.9 inch
£2,044
la légèreté
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
£2,328
No47 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 96 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 37.8 x 0 inch
£2,328
l' amie
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,328
The War
Anastasia Kurakina
Fine Art Drawings - 17.5 x 17 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 6.9 x 6.7 x 0 inch
£604
No31 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,328
WetWay
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,328
Hills
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,328
Fesse homme
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 36 x 53 x 1 cm Photography - 14.2 x 20.9 x 0.4 inch
£622
Femme allongée
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 24 x 36 x 1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 14.2 x 0.4 inch
£622
Danza de Fortuna Tres. From the series "Danza de Fortuna"
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
£1,843
Danza de fortuna. From the series, Danza de fortuna
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
£1,843
Nu II
Mirco Marcacci
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
£791
Nu V
Mirco Marcacci
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
£791
Nu VII
Mirco Marcacci
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
£791
Nu I
Mirco Marcacci
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
£791
Sans titre (Un jour, une photo)
Aline Part
Photography - 67 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
£444
The reading
Andrea Vandoni
Painting - 80 x 80 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
£3,110 £2,644
Femme avec rideau rouge
Charlie Feraud
Painting - 45.5 x 38 x 0.2 cm Painting - 17.9 x 15 x 0.1 inch
£844
Val surprises
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
£169
Secret d'alcove
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
£1,022
De chlore et de rosé
Christopher Barraja
Photography - 90 x 60 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 inch
£1,066
Rouge Gorge
Basile Minatchy
Photography - 80 x 53 x 1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 20.9 x 0.4 inch
£1,422
Femme coréenne s'habillant
Sounya Whang
Painting - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£862
Broken Myth (Diptych)
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 inch
£4,147
Doux au toucher
David Djian
Photography - 200 x 133.33 x 0.2 cm Photography - 78.7 x 52.5 x 0.1 inch
£2,622
ARIKA5 : VERDANT TEMPTATION IN KAWAII WHISPERS
Aya Toshikawa
Painting - 50 x 50 x 5 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 2 inch
£1,511
La signora - The shades of gray version
Hildegarde Handsaeme
Painting - 76 x 55 x 1 cm Painting - 29.9 x 21.7 x 0.4 inch
£755
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.