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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Small cloned Penguin with water bottle
William Sweetlove
Sculpture - 40 x 18 x 19 cm Sculpture - 15.7 x 7.1 x 7.5 inch
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Ours polaire qui marche
François Rambaud
Sculpture - 70 x 130 x 40 cm Sculpture - 27.6 x 51.2 x 15.7 inch
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Femmes et enfant au manège
Jean-Jacques Kugel
Painting - 46 x 39 x 2 cm Painting - 18.1 x 15.4 x 0.8 inch
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Danseuses au manège
Jean-Jacques Kugel
Painting - 70 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
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Série grands singes - 11/5
François Cognet
Painting - 80 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
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Série grands singes - 7/5
François Cognet
Painting - 150 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 59.1 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
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Série grands singes - 20/5
François Cognet
Painting - 89 x 116 x 2 cm Painting - 35 x 45.7 x 0.8 inch
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Série grands singes - 18/5
François Cognet
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
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Série grands singes - 24/5
François Cognet
Painting - 100 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
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Elephant V
Jean Poulain
Fine Art Drawings - 74 x 60 x 2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.1 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
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Rhinoceros
Jean Poulain
Fine Art Drawings - 70 x 59 x 2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 27.6 x 23.2 x 0.8 inch
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Toro minoico ceramique
Palolo Valdes
Sculpture - 20 x 44 x 25 cm Sculpture - 7.9 x 17.3 x 9.8 inch
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Return of the Prodigal Son
Edgard Mazigi
Fine Art Drawings - 48 x 54 x 2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.9 x 21.3 x 0.8 inch
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Dans la rosée du matin
Danielle Le Bricquir
Painting - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
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A quand la liberté
Danielle Le Bricquir
Painting - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
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Streetolé
Marc Felten
Fine Art Drawings - 100 x 140 x 3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 39.4 x 55.1 x 1.2 inch
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Composition pour les JO
Carybé (Héctor Julio Páride Bernabó)
Print - 90 x 63 cm Print - 35.4 x 24.8 inch
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Retour du bois d'amour
Danielle Le Bricquir
Painting - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
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How are you, Franklin
Vasyl Khodakivskyi
Painting - 75 x 105 x 2 cm Painting - 29.5 x 41.3 x 0.8 inch
£7,434
Manège fantasmagorique
Jean-Jacques Kugel
Painting - 90 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
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Lièvre à la déesse
Véronique Dominici
Sculpture - 40 x 39 x 20 cm Sculpture - 15.7 x 15.4 x 7.9 inch
£1,049
Le loup DIEU THOT GOD The wolf
Jean-Pierre Malaussena
Fine Art Drawings - 53.5 x 28.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 21.1 x 11.2 inch
£1,093
Vive les fleurs les chats qui surfent
Seb Paul Michel
Sculpture - 17 x 12 x 5 cm Sculpture - 6.7 x 4.7 x 2 inch
£219
Woman tending to her sheep in a rustic stable setting
Franck Brissot
Painting - 58 x 65 x 4 cm Painting - 22.8 x 25.6 x 1.6 inch
£3,993
Sapphire and Garnet
Patricia A Griffin
Painting - 182.9 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm Painting - 72 x 48 x 1.5 inch
£15,895
Jelly-stic fish
Karl N’da Adopo
Photography - 90 x 110 x 3 cm Photography - 35.4 x 43.3 x 1.2 inch
£1,049
