Human body
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Le rapt de Perspéphone
Mathilde Oscar
Photography - 90 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
£1,066 £1,013
Approach
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 90 x 72 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 28.3 x 0 inch
£1,311
L'amie
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
£1,311
Kodachrome Dream (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 144.8 x 182.9 cm Photography - 57 x 72 inch
£20,733
Kodachrome Dream (2)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 121.9 x 152.4 cm Photography - 48 x 60 inch
£12,440
Fashion shoot for Jalouse. A life guard, Cuba
Martin Parr
Photography - 86 x 61 x 1 cm Photography - 33.9 x 24 x 0.4 inch
£6,043
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
A set of 3 Polaroids from the Do it Yourself Series
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 10.1 x 7.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 4 x 3 x 0.1 inch
£1,244
The Bunny In The Window (1)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 76.2 x 58.4 cm Photography - 30 x 23 inch
£4,147
The Bunny In The Window
Tyler Shields
Photography - 50.8 x 38.1 cm Photography - 20 x 15 inch
£2,073
Legs in the limo (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 114.3 x 152.4 cm Photography - 45 x 60 inch
£12,440
The Bunny In The Window (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 182.9 x 137.2 cm Photography - 72 x 54 inch
£20,733
The Bunny In The Window (2)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 152.4 x 114.3 cm Photography - 60 x 45 inch
£12,440
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
La Grotte n°3
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£133
La Grotte n°2
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£133
La Grotte n°1
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£133 £120
Les Sphères forestières n°2
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£400
Les Sphères forestières n°1
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£400
Shoot again (5064)
Yves Cham
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.01 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
£1,066
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
Béton palavasien n°2
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£667
The rescue of El Cid's daughters
David Carey
Photography - 46 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 18.1 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£88
Shoot again (202)
Yves Cham
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.01 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
£1,066
Shoot again (117)
Yves Cham
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.01 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,066
Interrogation
Charles Bayonne
Photography - 70 x 100 x 5 cm Photography - 27.6 x 39.4 x 2 inch
£1,289
Lit de fougères 1
Michael Mouque
Photography - 30 x 20 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
£880
Lit de Fougères 2
Michael Mouque
Photography - 30 x 20 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
£880
Lit de Bruyères 1
Michael Mouque
Photography - 30 x 20 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
£880
La tête dans les étoiles
Michael Mouque
Photography - 30 x 20 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
£880
Le Rayon de Lumière
Michael Mouque
Photography - 30 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
£1,333
Éclat de cosmos
Charles Bayonne
Photography - 50 x 50 x 5 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 2 inch
£622
Collection Liberty - HB1787
Idan Wizen
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
£444
Collection Liberty - HB1606
Idan Wizen
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£667
The Boomer Collection - HB3077
Idan Wizen
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
£667
Collection Purity - Un Anonyme Nu Dans Le Salon - HB1353
Idan Wizen
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£667
Collection Purity - Un Anonyme Nu Dans Le Salon - HB1255
Idan Wizen
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£667
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.