Human body
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Danser avec le sacré
Emilie Teillaud
Painting - 171 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 67.3 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$4,719
Visiter ton Paradis
Emilie Teillaud
Painting - 130 x 89 x 3 cm Painting - 51.2 x 35 x 1.2 inch
$3,596
Portrait de Sylvia
Serge Labégorre
Painting - 146 x 114 x 3 cm Painting - 57.5 x 44.9 x 1.2 inch
$20,788
Une beauté française
Serge Labégorre
Painting - 150 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 59.1 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$20,788
Femme au fond vert
Serge Labégorre
Painting - 146 x 114 x 3 cm Painting - 57.5 x 44.9 x 1.2 inch
$20,788
Figure numéro 1
Serge Labégorre
Painting - 195 x 130 x 3 cm Painting - 76.8 x 51.2 x 1.2 inch
$28,822
Pavarti Incertitude
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 26 x 22 x 10 cm Sculpture - 10.2 x 8.7 x 3.9 inch
$1,067
Spontaneous Creation (part 1)
Rob Woodcox
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 inch
$3,150
Sans titre 8
Zan Donna
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 15 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.4 inch
$101
Pavarti Eclaircissement
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 26 x 22 x 10 cm Sculpture - 10.2 x 8.7 x 3.9 inch
$1,067
Pavarti Sous la pluie
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 34 x 17 x 10 cm Sculpture - 13.4 x 6.7 x 3.9 inch
$1,067
Geometry of Color Nr. 3
Lika Brutyan
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 inch
$2,250
We Are Particles (part 2)
Rob Woodcox
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 cm Photography - 40 x 30 inch
$2,850
Kisses and strokes
Aldona Jablonska Klimczak
Painting - 120 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$7,304
Eretz
Nathan Chantob
Fine Art Drawings - 236 x 110 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 92.9 x 43.3 x 0.4 inch
$24,721 $22,249
CoRpus AC maNus
Louis Blanc
Photography - 70 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$7,304
Devant la grille
Franck Rozet
Photography - 150 x 80 x 0.6 cm Photography - 59.1 x 31.5 x 0.2 inch
$4,270
Softness of ocher
Franck Rozet
Photography - 98 x 69 x 0.6 cm Photography - 38.6 x 27.2 x 0.2 inch
$2,753
Voile d'ocre
Franck Rozet
Photography - 100 x 67 x 0.6 cm Photography - 39.4 x 26.4 x 0.2 inch
$2,753
Man in Canoe
Celso Castro
Photography - 140 x 419.9 x 2.5 cm Photography - 55.1 x 165.3 x 1 inch
$12,500
Man in Canoe 2
Celso Castro
Photography - 59.9 x 378.5 x 2.5 cm Photography - 23.6 x 149 x 1 inch
$10,000
Paris with love - Italian painting
Domenico Ronca
Painting - 70 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$506
Après le bain, petite version
Pierre Sojo
Painting - 81 x 60 x 5 cm Painting - 31.9 x 23.6 x 2 inch
$3,146
A whirlwind of emotions #1
Rani Bruchstein
Photography - 60 x 60 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$4,892
La nymphe des sables
Franck Rozet
Photography - 100 x 67 x 3 cm Photography - 39.4 x 26.4 x 1.2 inch
$2,753
Silhouette VII
Deana Nastic
Photography - 101 x 76 x 1 cm Photography - 39.8 x 29.9 x 0.4 inch
$5,955
Autroportrait avec mon ange
Zan Donna
Painting - 40 x 30 x 2.5 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 1 inch
$281
Les demoiselles retrouvées blanc
Olivier Masmonteil
Print - 65 x 50 cm Print - 25.6 x 19.7 inch
$360
Figure Collection : Light version
Leni Smoragdova
Photography - 150.1 x 110 x 1 cm Photography - 59.1 x 43.3 x 0.4 inch
$2,584
Figure Collection : Light version
Leni Smoragdova
Photography - 150.1 x 110 x 1 cm Photography - 59.1 x 43.3 x 0.4 inch
$2,584
Figure Collection : Light version
Leni Smoragdova
Photography - 150.1 x 110 x 1 cm Photography - 59.1 x 43.3 x 0.4 inch
$2,584
Figure Collection : Light Version
Leni Smoragdova
Photography - 100.1 x 150.1 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 59.1 x 0.4 inch
$2,584
Figure Collection : Dark version
Leni Smoragdova
Photography - 80 x 100.1 x 1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
$2,416
Figure Collection : Dark version
Leni Smoragdova
Photography - 100.1 x 59.9 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$2,416
Figure Collection : Dark Version
Leni Smoragdova
Photography - 100.1 x 100.1 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
$2,416
Useful Object Cut
Mihai Florea
Painting - 120 x 70 x 30 cm Painting - 47.2 x 27.6 x 11.8 inch
$2,584
Useful Object Cover
Mihai Florea
Painting - 120 x 70 x 30 cm Painting - 47.2 x 27.6 x 11.8 inch
$2,584
Dyna
Kohlene Hendrickson
Fine Art Drawings - 100 x 70 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
$3,034 $2,731
Odnajde nieznane mi krainy
Malwina Jagora
Painting - 100 x 70 x 1 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
$3,141
Chorégraphe d'oiseaux bronze
Grégory Poussier
Sculpture - 66 x 45 x 25 cm Sculpture - 26 x 17.7 x 9.8 inch
$10,563
Audace en mouvement
Grégory Poussier
Sculpture - 165 x 85 x 85 cm Sculpture - 65 x 33.5 x 33.5 inch
$22,361
The Garden of Gethsemane II
Ilya Gaponov
Painting - 150 x 200 x 2 cm Painting - 59.1 x 78.7 x 0.8 inch
$13,596
The Garden of Gethsemane III
Ilya Gaponov
Painting - 150 x 200 x 2 cm Painting - 59.1 x 78.7 x 0.8 inch
$13,596
Encreuse d'ombres
Grégory Poussier
Sculpture - 55 x 85 x 45 cm Sculpture - 21.7 x 33.5 x 17.7 inch
$15,731
Chopin meets Nana
Linda De Clercq
Painting - 100 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$2,360
A familiar synchronicity
Gabriela Brito
Painting - 90 x 96 x 3 cm Painting - 35.4 x 37.8 x 1.2 inch
$3,398
Admiring her friend
Gabriela Brito
Painting - 98 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 38.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$3,754
Portrait of a boy
Anthony Roaland
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 30 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$472 $378
Nuit Fauve, Champagne et playlist #3
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 59 x 42 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.2 x 16.5 x 0 inch
$730
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.