Human body
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Sans titre nº1
Julien Monteiro
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.1 inch
£300
Sans titre nº4
Julien Monteiro
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.1 inch
£293
The horse without name
The Antic Staatsoper
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.4 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
£222
Dancer's stretch
Richard Dunkley
Photography - 48.3 x 61 x 1.3 cm Photography - 19 x 24 x 0.5 inch
£300
T2
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£283
Look at me
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£204
Canopy 09
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£249
Canopy 20
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£249
Canopy 12
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£249
Canopy 11
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£249
Sunbathing In Antibes - Limited Edition Estate Print
Slim Aarons
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 x 0 cm Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.001 inch
£2,088
Extra Virgin Oil
Mathilde Oscar
Photography - 90 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
£1,066
Clochette Dark
Caz In The Machine
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£889
Centimetri di Cielo
Elisa Gambalonga
Photography - 90 x 60 x 1.5 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.6 inch
£1,422
L'ora del Rosso
Elisa Gambalonga
Photography - 90 x 60 x 1.5 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.6 inch
£1,422
The Great Princess (S)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 57.2 x 76.2 cm Photography - 22.5 x 30 inch
£4,147
Let Them Drink Champagne (S)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 57.2 x 76.2 cm Photography - 22.5 x 30 inch
£4,147
Heir To The Throne (S)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 57.2 x 76.2 cm Photography - 22.5 x 30 inch
£4,147
La tête
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 72 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.3 x 35.4 x 0 inch
£1,311
The Great Princess (XXL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 160 x 213.4 cm Photography - 63 x 84 inch
£41,466
The Great Princess (XL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 142.2 x 182.9 cm Photography - 56 x 72 inch
£20,733
The Great Princess (L)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 114.3 x 152.4 cm Photography - 45 x 60 inch
£12,440
The Great Princess (M)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 cm Photography - 30 x 40 inch
£8,293
Let Them Drink Champagne (XXL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 160 x 213.4 cm Photography - 63 x 84 inch
£41,466
Let Them Drink Champagne (XL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 142.2 x 182.9 cm Photography - 56 x 72 inch
£20,733
Let Them Drink Champagne (L)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 114.3 x 152.4 cm Photography - 45 x 60 inch
£12,440
Heir To The Throne (XXL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 160 x 213.4 cm Photography - 63 x 84 inch
£41,466
Heir To The Throne (XL)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 142.2 x 182.9 cm Photography - 56 x 72 inch
£20,733
Heir To The Throne (L)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 114.3 x 152.4 cm Photography - 45 x 60 inch
£12,440
Heir To The Throne (M)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 cm Photography - 30 x 40 inch
£12,440
Odalisque masquée
Mathilde Oscar
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
£800
Diverse
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 150 x 117 x 0.1 cm Photography - 59.1 x 46.1 x 0 inch
£3,644
Passionate
Dan Holmqvist
Photography - 100 x 95 x 0.2 cm Photography - 39.4 x 37.4 x 0.1 inch
£1,750
Modelés n°2
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
£400 £360
Modelés n°1
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£400 £360
Jungle Madonna
Mathilde Oscar
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
£667
Hat and Gloves Silhouette (S)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 45.7 x 45.7 cm Photography - 18 x 18 inch
£2,073
No92 Spirit Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 91 x 91 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.8 x 35.8 x 0 inch
£1,311
Dorothy's Night Out (1)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 50.8 x 76.2 cm Photography - 20 x 30 inch
£4,147
The Boomer Collection - HB3100
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
£1,600
Moulin Rouge Mermaid - Signed Limited Edition
Alain Le Garsmeur
Photography - 51 x 76 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.1 x 29.9 x 0 inch
£795
The Goddess of Olympia (4)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 160 x 213.4 cm Photography - 63 x 84 inch
£41,466
The Goddess of Olympia (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 121.9 x 182.9 cm Photography - 48 x 72 inch
£20,733
The Goddess of Olympia (2)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 cm Photography - 40 x 60 inch
£12,440
The Goddess of Olympia (1)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 cm Photography - 30 x 40 inch
£8,293
Dorothy's Night Out (5)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 160 x 213.4 cm Photography - 63 x 84 inch
£41,466
Dorothy's Night Out (4)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 121.9 x 182.9 cm Photography - 48 x 72 inch
£20,733
Dorothy's Night Out (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 cm Photography - 40 x 60 inch
£12,440
Dorothy's Night Out (2)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 cm Photography - 30 x 40 inch
£8,293
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.