Animal
Animals are often featured in news, sometimes in heartwarming tales of human and animal companionship and other times in heartbreaking stories of illegal trade and endangered species. Animals are even present in social sciences, especially thank to ethology (behavioural sciences of animals in their natural habitat). They have fascinated philosophers from Antiquity all the way through to today and they are even present in the medical realm, as the benefits of animal-assisted therapies have been scientifically proven.
The relationship between humans and animals is also taken into account in the politics, most notably when debating topics related to ecology, the protection of ecosystems and sustainable development. Thus, animals might be seen as a crucial indicator of humanity's concerns.
As well in these many sectors, animals are also very much present in the arts. A number of art museums have decided exhibitions to animals including the Cluny Museum in Paris and MoMA PS1 in New York. Whether simply a humble spectator in an 18th century painting or the central subject of a Courbet painting, animals are present throughout the history of art. From symbolic, to esthetic, to abstract, to animal drawings meant to simply record their appearance...all these representations have played a role in influencing artists and also how we characterise and think of individual animals.
Each civilisation has represented the animal on multiples supports (mosaics, metal, stone, bones, etc.) as seen on the Nerja cave wall paintings in Andalusia discovered in 1925. Animal iconography has had multiple purposes, varying according to the era and place. Bats, for example, are often used to represent death, fear or superstition in Western art, whereas the Chinese see them as a sign of happiness. The omnipresence of animals within cultures across the globe is probably down to the similarities between men and animal, a source of both fascination and fear.
In this selection, Artsper helps you to discover the beauty of the animal kingdom, its diversity, strength and fragility. Artists depict animals in a huge range of mediums: sculpture, painting, photographs, and drawings. Contemporary artists bring an original and poetic vision to their representations of the animals with whom we share our world.
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Piaf Black Supreme
Valerie Marty
Sculpture - 16 x 8 x 10 cm Sculpture - 6.3 x 3.1 x 3.9 inch
$643 $548
Cheval impressionniste
Martín Duque
Sculpture - 28 x 38 x 15 cm Sculpture - 11 x 15 x 5.9 inch
$1,568
A plate, from Les Songes drolatiques de Pantagruel
Salvador Dali
Print - 76 x 56 x 0.1 cm Print - 29.9 x 22 x 0 inch
$4,306
Zebulun, from Twelve Tribes of Israel
Salvador Dali
Print - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Print - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$5,686
A Little Song Of Twilight
Yasna Godovanik
Painting - 55 x 30 x 2 cm Painting - 21.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
$702
Le Cerf se voyant dans l'eau
Salvador Dali
Print - 76 x 57 x 0.05 cm Print - 29.9 x 22.4 x 0 inch
$2,340
Le Cheval s'étant voulu venger du Cerf
Salvador Dali
Print - 57 x 76 x 0.05 cm Print - 22.4 x 29.9 x 0 inch
$2,340
L'Eléphant et le Singe de Jupiter
Salvador Dali
Print - 57 x 76 x 0.05 cm Print - 22.4 x 29.9 x 0 inch
$2,340
Bleu ballon de chien 12
Miguel Guía
Sculpture - 12.5 x 3 x 12 cm Sculpture - 4.9 x 1.2 x 4.7 inch
$573
Father and Daughter
Sophie Verger
Sculpture - 99 x 29 x 28 cm Sculpture - 39 x 11.4 x 11 inch
$17,433
Born Wild Black Panther
Richard Orlinski
Sculpture - 70 x 148 x 32 cm Sculpture - 27.6 x 58.3 x 12.6 inch
$31,590
L'oiseau multicilore, aquagravure
Corneille
Print - 38 x 48 x 0.5 cm Print - 15 x 18.9 x 0.2 inch
$702
Portrait de chien
Camille Hilaire
Fine Art Drawings - 23 x 17 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.1 x 6.7 inch
$760
Panthère sautant sur le rocher
Patrick Villas
Sculpture - 30 x 15 x 7 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 5.9 x 2.8 inch
$4,095
A Mysterious Horse - A tribute to the artist Uri Reisman
Menashe Kadishman
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$3,700 $3,145
Chien béat sur nickel 59
Miguel Guía
Sculpture - 59 x 55 x 21 cm Sculpture - 23.2 x 21.7 x 8.3 inch
$9,828 $8,354
Elephants...in a colorful world
Jean-Philippe Berger
Painting - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$374
Silent Sheep, Ancient Stone
Menashe Kadishman
Painting - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$5,900 $5,015
M. Chat au Mont Saint-Michel
M.Chat
Painting - 50 x 65 x 0.1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0 inch
$2,925
Héron cendré
Jean-François Gambino
Sculpture - 45 x 23 x 43 cm Sculpture - 17.7 x 9.1 x 16.9 inch
$22,932
Petits polissons
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 50 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,030
Long-lived masterpiece
Karen Akhikyan
Sculpture - 22 x 29 x 15 cm Sculpture - 8.7 x 11.4 x 5.9 inch
$1,200
Jungle Happiness
Katharina Husslein
Painting - 130 x 190 x 4 cm Painting - 51.2 x 74.8 x 1.6 inch
$3,861
Cheval Pegase au trot
Hassan Laamirat
Sculpture - 254 x 214 x 294 cm Sculpture - 100 x 84.3 x 115.7 inch
$5,616
Skate Chanoir, Dégradation Tropicale
Chanoir
Print - 19.7 x 81 x 1 cm Print - 7.8 x 31.9 x 0.4 inch
$585
Carte des Gorges du Tarn et de la Provence
M.Chat
Painting - 50 x 65 x 0.1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0 inch
$2,925
Éloigne toi
Claire Bonnet-Masimbert
Painting - 70 x 50 x 1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$585