Human body
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Back Silhouette (XXL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 177.8 x 177.8 cm Photography - 70 x 70 inch
£41,467
Back Silhouette (XL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 152.4 x 152.4 cm Photography - 60 x 60 inch
£16,587
The Lady and the Lion (XXL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 177.8 x 177.8 cm Photography - 70 x 70 inch
£41,467
The Lady and the Lion (XL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 152.4 x 152.4 cm Photography - 60 x 60 inch
£16,587
The Lady and the Lion (L)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 114.3 x 114.3 cm Photography - 45 x 45 inch
£8,293
Legs Up Silhouette (XXL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 177.8 x 177.8 cm Photography - 70 x 70 inch
£41,467
Legs Up Silhouette (XL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 152.4 x 152.4 cm Photography - 60 x 60 inch
£16,587
Legs Up Silhouette (L)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 114.3 x 114.3 cm Photography - 45 x 45 inch
£8,293
Legs in the limo (4)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 142.2 x 182.9 cm Photography - 56 x 72 inch
£20,734
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
£447
Impressionist Ephemerisms N.4
Anna Levesh
Photography - 80 x 60 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 inch
£706
Nude Carla Bruni a genoux, Harper Bazar
Philippe Robert
Photography - 110 x 82 x 2 cm Photography - 43.3 x 32.3 x 0.8 inch
£9,825
À contre-jour
Arnaud Ele
Photography - 118.8 x 84 x 0.1 cm Photography - 46.8 x 33.1 x 0 inch
£1,143
L'œil orangé
Arnaud Ele
Photography - 59.4 x 84.1 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.4 x 33.1 x 0.1 inch
£607
Hausa and Fula cultures collide
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
£1,250
OMO: Untitled 15
Drew Doggett
Photography - 45.7 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18 x 27 x 0.1 inch
£1,368
No 81 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 84 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 33.1 x 0 inch
£2,340
Louise dans un carton
David Martin
Photography - 40 x 35 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 13.8 x 0 inch
£625
Atelier de porcelaine II
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
£536
Traces (Frozen) - Proof before printing
Stefanie Schneider
Photography - 128 x 125 x 0.1 cm Photography - 50.4 x 49.2 x 0 inch
£625
La montée des eaux
Fabienne Cresens
Photography - 40 x 40 x 4 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 1.6 inch
£447
Men Legs One: From Motion Series
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
£1,843
Marilyn stretching the jewelry
Bert Stern
Photography - 33 x 48 cm Photography - 13 x 18.9 inch
£2,224
Marilyn colour nude on the bed
Bert Stern
Photography - 33 x 48 cm Photography - 13 x 18.9 inch
£2,224
Gaudí 014
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 80 x 60 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 inch
£715
Sans titre 3
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 60 x 90 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 1.2 inch
£1,072
Lichtreflex Rotation
Hein Gravenhorst
Photography - 30 x 30 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 inch
£1,340
Diane Kruger III
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 46 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 18.1 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£1,340
Corazon y alma
James Sparshatt
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
£621
Waiting for the rain in Wamba
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
£1,550
At the edge of the Jade Sea
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
£950
Afar woman of Assaita
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
£1,228
Desvelando Gaudí 015
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 40 x 30 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
£357
Manufactura 9
Oriol Texidor
Photography - 40 x 50 x 7 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 2.8 inch
£1,125
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.