Human body
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Genetic manipulation
Hildegarde Handsaeme
Painting - 70 x 180 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 70.9 x 0.8 inch
$2,693
Invocation
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 100 x 73 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 28.7 x 1.2 inch
$2,805
Geogram 2
Hoel Gwern
Fine Art Drawings - 17 x 14 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 6.7 x 5.5 x 0.1 inch
$202
Paleolithic Bronze Figurine
Ohad Ben-Ayala
Sculpture - 23 x 10 x 6 cm Sculpture - 9.1 x 3.9 x 2.4 inch
$2,749
Discours sur la servitude volontaire
Arnaud Labelle-Rojoux
Print - 70 x 50 cm Print - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$168
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
$280
La Main
Fanny Gosse
Fine Art Drawings - 32 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.6 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$393
Enfanter
Fanny Gosse
Fine Art Drawings - 32 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.6 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$393
Kat, the mistress of the night
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 70 x 50 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$841
I Was Here, ( Triptych/ Triptyque )
Marian Williams
Painting - 25 x 75 x 3 cm Painting - 9.8 x 29.5 x 1.2 inch
$280
L'un à l'autre
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$954
Profil avec main au visage
Pascal Marlin
Painting - 116 x 89 x 2.5 cm Painting - 45.7 x 35 x 1 inch
$2,805
The Pianist #2
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 59 x 42 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.2 x 16.5 x 0 inch
$729
Red Lisa #15
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 46 x 38 x 0.1 cm Painting - 18.1 x 15 x 0 inch
$729
Hendrick 1
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 42 x 55 x 0.1 cm Painting - 16.5 x 21.7 x 0 inch
$841
The Sound of birds
Hildegarde Handsaeme
Painting - 100 x 160 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 63 x 0.8 inch
$6,956
Dindette & Dindonneau 2
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 39 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 15.4 x 0 inch
$560
When a man loves a woman
Tiny de Bruin
Painting - 160 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 63 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$6,451
Geo-blanket of love
Mariam Qureshi
Painting - 91.4 x 91.4 x 5.1 cm Painting - 36 x 36 x 2 inch
$3,600
La nuisette bleue
Christiane Bernais
Painting - 80 x 80 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.6 inch
$1,571
Homme noir et blanc
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 33 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 13 x 0 inch
$449
Character
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$314
Character
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$314
Character
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$314
Divas de Jazz #2
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 30 x 30 x 3 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 1.2 inch
$1,066
N° 1193 Rochefort. Au musée de...
R. Cavalié
Painting - 81 x 54 x 2 cm Painting - 31.9 x 21.3 x 0.8 inch
$898
Personnage
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$314
Ouin ouin variante
Valentine Bouvet
Painting - 60 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$942
Reste avec moi
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Painting - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$2,805
Later than night
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Painting - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$3,085
Mars Unknown dream 3
Aziz Anzabi
Sculpture - 22 x 10 x 10 cm Sculpture - 8.7 x 3.9 x 3.9 inch
$26,365
Ready for the ball #2
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 70 x 50 x 1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,402
Madame coco
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 70 x 60 x 1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$1,402
Ready for the ball
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 90 x 60 x 1 cm Painting - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$1,290
Elegant Dominant #2
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 31 x 23 x 0.1 cm Painting - 12.2 x 9.1 x 0 inch
$729
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.