Human body
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Dos ensoleillé
Laurent Castellani
Photography - 100 x 70 x 0.01 cm Photography - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0 inch
£5,777
The gift of the handcuffs
Idan Wizen
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£400
Sisyphe II grand format
Patrick Strajnic
Photography - 80 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
£1,945
Summer Vibes Mélanie 3
Hégémon (Hedge) Chaignon
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
£755
Summer Vibes Mélanie 1
Hégémon (Hedge) Chaignon
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
£755
9 LegShow bronze
Eric Neveu
Photography - 60 x 120 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 47.2 x 0.1 inch
£2,311
5 LegShow rouge
Eric Neveu
Photography - 70 x 110 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27.6 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
£2,311
Night Vision. Barcelona
Dmitry Savchenko
Photography - 150 x 100 x 0.1 cm Photography - 59.1 x 39.4 x 0 inch
£3,022
Danse 7
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
£267
Danse 6
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 75 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
£267
Danse 4
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 75 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
£267
Danse 3
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 75 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
£267
Danse 1
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
£267
Flou 3
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
£267
Nu n° II sur carte michelin
Valérie Evrard
Photography - 16 x 22 x 0.1 cm Photography - 6.3 x 8.7 x 0 inch
£355
Nu n° I sur plan de rivière
Valérie Evrard
Photography - 16 x 22 x 0.1 cm Photography - 6.3 x 8.7 x 0 inch
£355
Portrait sur carte - Mon coeur en Italie
Valérie Evrard
Photography - 22 x 16 x 0.1 cm Photography - 8.7 x 6.3 x 0 inch
£355
Les enveloppes - image 8/13
Sarah Salazar
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
£367
Les enveloppes - image 5/13
Sarah Salazar
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
£367
L'avortement - La mer donne et reprend tout
Lili Ruby Chomat
Photography - 42 x 59.4 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 23.4 x 0 inch
£213
G3
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 120 x 80 x 3 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
£1,031
G2
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 120 x 80 x 3 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
£1,031
G1
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 120 x 80 x 3 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
£1,031
Shijunku99 - Beauty - #002 - Ombrelles japonaises
Davis Y
Photography - 20 x 20 cm Photography - 7.9 x 7.9 inch
£133
Shijunku99 - Beauty - #002 - Feu du soleil levant
Davis Y
Photography - 20 x 20 cm Photography - 7.9 x 7.9 inch
£133
Lotta perpetua
Nicola Bertoglio
Photography - 50 x 81 x 4 cm Photography - 19.7 x 31.9 x 1.6 inch
£311
Seme dischiuso
Nicola Bertoglio
Photography - 50 x 81 x 4 cm Photography - 19.7 x 31.9 x 1.6 inch
£311
L'Encre dans la Peau
Charly Desoubry
Photography - 100 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
£844
La vie traverse nos corps, comme des étoiles filantes
Lili Ruby Chomat
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
£133
Il y a de la religion dans vos baisers
Lili Ruby Chomat
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
£133
Je n'oublierai jamais ton visage
Lili Ruby Chomat
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
£133
Un matin d'amour à Venise
Lili Ruby Chomat
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
£133
Betty Oops !
Lili Ruby Chomat
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
£133
Le soleil est ton portrait, te regarder c'est faire la paix
Lili Ruby Chomat
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
£133
Elle voulait montrer son ventre à Dieu.x
Lili Ruby Chomat
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
£133
L'île aux dames
Clara Delaporte
Photography - 31 x 21 x 2 cm Photography - 12.2 x 8.3 x 0.8 inch
£267
Pauline mise en abyme
Jean-Robert Franco
Photography - 100 x 100 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
£2,666
Apparition chambre bleue
Jean-Robert Franco
Photography - 100 x 130 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 51.2 x 0.4 inch
£2,666
June, nude
Jean-Robert Franco
Photography - 50 x 70 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
£2,666
Le dos de Juliette
Clara Delaporte
Photography - 31 x 21 x 2 cm Photography - 12.2 x 8.3 x 0.8 inch
£267
Do you smoke after ? #1
Charly Desoubry
Photography - 100 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
£844
ELLE To be beautiful and pregnant /
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.5 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
£507
ELLE Une sirène / S
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
£862
ELLE Le soleil la mer
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.5 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
£862
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.