Human body
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Genesis, One of three works in the Harmony series
Oleksandra Horscroft
Painting - 70 x 50 x 1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$561
Blue background
Isabelle Hirtzig
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$208
Le jeu des sept différences variante
Valentine Bouvet
Painting - 60 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$942
Le jeu des sept différences
Valentine Bouvet
Painting - 60 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$942
Mélangeons-nous & oublions demain
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 100 x 150 x 3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 39.4 x 59.1 x 1.2 inch
$5,049
Light of Desire
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 50 x 82 x 3 cm Painting - 19.7 x 32.3 x 1.2 inch
$2,805
Cascade Rouge
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 90 x 53 x 1 cm Painting - 35.4 x 20.9 x 0.4 inch
$3,085
Contre l'Oubli
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 60 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$3,085
À fleur de peau
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 100 x 130 x 1 cm Painting - 39.4 x 51.2 x 0.4 inch
$4,488
Primal
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 80 x 120 x 3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 31.5 x 47.2 x 1.2 inch
$2,805
ELLE To be beautiful and pregnant /
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.5 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
$639
ELLE Une sirène / S
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,088
ELLE Le soleil la mer
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.5 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
$1,088
ELLE, Bain de soleil
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 60 x 80 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 inch
$1,088
La belle matinée
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 30.5 x 23 x 0.1 cm Painting - 12 x 9.1 x 0 inch
$729
Sensualité et intimité
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 30.5 x 23 x 0.1 cm Painting - 12 x 9.1 x 0 inch
$729
Before you leave
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 30.5 x 23 x 0.1 cm Painting - 12 x 9.1 x 0 inch
$729
Small relief in bronze
Ohad Ben-Ayala
Sculpture - 14 x 13 x 3 cm Sculpture - 5.5 x 5.1 x 1.2 inch
$269
OTT-22
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 100 x 73 x 0.6 cm Painting - 39.4 x 28.7 x 0.2 inch
$5,609
Lumière intérieure 4-22
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 118 x 42 x 0.5 cm Painting - 46.5 x 16.5 x 0.2 inch
$4,263
Écho de lumière 4-22
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 100 x 64 x 0.6 cm Painting - 39.4 x 25.2 x 0.2 inch
$4,824
Indian heritage-3
Anand Manchiraju
Painting - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.3 cm Painting - 20 x 16 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Madame with two moles
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 31 x 23 x 1 cm Painting - 12.2 x 9.1 x 0.4 inch
$561
Trois nus de dos
Lionel le Jeune
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.1 inch
$56
Tropic # 15
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 20 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$213
La Valse des Damnés
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 100 x 150 x 4 cm Painting - 39.4 x 59.1 x 1.6 inch
$5,329
Douce vengeance variante
Valentine Bouvet
Painting - 73 x 64 x 3 cm Painting - 28.7 x 25.2 x 1.2 inch
$1,279
L'autre bout du monde
Mathilde Schmill
Painting - 54 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 21.3 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,010
240 - Suite Henner
Jacques Resch
Painting - 30 x 26.5 x 0.5 cm Painting - 11.8 x 10.4 x 0.2 inch
$561
Bronze figurine (Standing woman)
Ohad Ben-Ayala
Sculpture - 20 x 6 x 6 cm Sculpture - 7.9 x 2.4 x 2.4 inch
$2,468
Bronze figurine (Maquette)
Ohad Ben-Ayala
Sculpture - 23 x 12 x 7 cm Sculpture - 9.1 x 4.7 x 2.8 inch
$2,468
Elle Le regard
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$258
Glistening adornment
Lisbeth Buonanno
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1.8 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.7 inch
$841
Tropic # 18
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 20 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$213
The woman in blue
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 102 x 67 x 0.6 cm Painting - 40.2 x 26.4 x 0.2 inch
$5,722
Lumière 1-22
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 80 x 79 x 0.2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.1 x 0.1 inch
$6,170
The reader II
Ruslana Levandovska
Painting - 91.4 x 76.2 x 1.9 cm Painting - 36 x 30 x 0.75 inch
$16,500
Kira's Tattoo
Richard Dunkley
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 1.3 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.5 inch
$327
La presqu'île du coq
François Ruisseau
Painting - 38 x 46 x 2 cm Painting - 15 x 18.1 x 0.8 inch
$1,346
Force et fragilité
Christiane Bernais
Sculpture - 28 x 26 x 8 cm Sculpture - 11 x 10.2 x 3.1 inch
$2,917
G4
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$353
Tropic # 28
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 20 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$213
Tropic # 9
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 20 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$213
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
Female nude & seascape Dreams at the sea
Oswin Gesselli
Painting - 100 x 80 x 2.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1 inch
$4,375
Study After Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus" (DIV 100)
Atom Hovhanesyan
Painting - 76.2 x 122 x 3.8 cm Painting - 30 x 48 x 1.5 inch
$5,721,685
BRING ME VISIONS OF LIGHT- Series Hidden Treasures
Oswin Gesselli
Painting - 100 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$3,927
AROUSAL SCIENCE - Series Hidden Treasures
Oswin Gesselli
Painting - 70 x 85 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 33.5 x 0.8 inch
$4,005
Backlight / Lacération
Phil Skolle
Photography - 80 x 121 x 3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.6 x 1.2 inch
$1,066
Rebond 120
Daniel Perreu
Sculpture - 116.3 x 89.7 x 4.2 cm Sculpture - 45.8 x 35.3 x 1.7 inch
$5,475
Silhouette
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 100 x 70 x 1 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
$4,263
Blooming pleasure
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Painting - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$3,141
La prière de la femme
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 90 x 60 x 1 cm Painting - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$3,758
N° 790 Etirement
R. Cavalié
Fine Art Drawings - 64 x 43 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.2 x 16.9 x 0.1 inch
$224
N° 771 Chansons d'amour.
R. Cavalié
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$258
Paloma on the Côte d'Azur
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 61 x 71 x 1 cm Painting - 24 x 28 x 0.4 inch
$3,141
Tropic # 27
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 20 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$213
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.