Human body
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Lady In Purple
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 20 x 20 x 1 cm Painting - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
$1,682
Nude No. 4
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,682
Nude No.3
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,682
Nude No.2
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,682
Nude No.1
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,682
Le cerveau des amoureux
Jean-Jacques Venturini
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$1,121
Some girls #11
Gwendoline Hausermann
Fine Art Drawings - 44 x 32 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.3 x 12.6 inch
$1,009
Untitled III
José Sierra
Photography - 101.6 x 58.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 23.19 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
De la série : La beauté des femmes - ingénieux
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 18 x 23 cm Photography - 7.1 x 9.1 inch
$1,345
PS 238 Le temps des jonquilles
Bazévian Delacapucinière
Painting - 61 x 46 x 2 cm Painting - 24 x 18.1 x 0.8 inch
$1,682 $1,446
PS 233 La fauve s'habille en léopard - French school
Bazévian Delacapucinière
Painting - 70 x 50 x 3.8 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 1.5 inch
$1,906 $1,639
I turned off the light
Joann Côté
Painting - 99.1 x 63.5 x 5.1 cm Painting - 39 x 25 x 2 inch
$2,500
Sculpture de Vénus
Natalie Shiporina
Painting - 50 x 40 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,682
What are your Neighbours Doing Next?
Hiromi Sengoku
Painting - 60.6 x 45.5 x 3 cm Painting - 23.9 x 17.9 x 1.2 inch
$1,682
Dawning Contours
Zakhar Shevchuk
Painting - 81 x 110 x 0.3 cm Painting - 31.9 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
$2,691
Née de la Vague
Lucien Clergue
Photography - 50 x 32 x 0.05 cm Photography - 19.7 x 12.6 x 0 inch
$3,924
Obra del Grupo Danza del Alma, Cuba
Sonia Almaguer
Photography - 32 x 24 x 2 cm Photography - 12.6 x 9.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,345
Early Morning Awakening
Zakhar Shevchuk
Painting - 105 x 162 x 2 cm Painting - 41.3 x 63.8 x 0.8 inch
$4,372
White Square Nude
Zakhar Shevchuk
Painting - 110 x 90 x 3 cm Painting - 43.3 x 35.4 x 1.2 inch
$2,466
Kate With Tassles - Limited Edition Mick Rock Estate Print
Mick Rock
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$2,214
Le temps
Gwendoline Hausermann
Fine Art Drawings - 57 x 42 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22.4 x 16.5 inch
$1,065
De la série : La beauté des femmes - thoughtfull
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 20 x 15 cm Photography - 7.9 x 5.9 inch
$1,345
Collection Purity - Un Anonyme Nu Dans Le Salon - HB1353
Idan Wizen
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$841
In Shelter Under Protection
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 80 x 60 x 1.8 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.7 inch
$2,119
H0427 – The crusher
Idan Wizen
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$561
F0564 – The dauntless
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,018
F0500 – The dancer
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,018
H0430 – The last one
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,018
F0547 - The scared
Idan Wizen
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,345
F0555 - The duchess
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,345
Sin título (Identity Testimonies Series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$953
De l'amour (big)
Linde Ergo
Sculpture - 168 x 63 x 78 cm Sculpture - 66.1 x 24.8 x 30.7 inch
$26,850
Cristal
Marie-Madeleine Vitrolles
Sculpture - 97 x 16 x 16 cm Sculpture - 38.2 x 6.3 x 6.3 inch
$1,626
Etude pour les arbrorigènes
Ernest Pignon-Ernest
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 29 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 11.4 x 0 inch
$15,135
Etude pour les Arbrorigènes
Ernest Pignon-Ernest
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 29 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 11.4 inch
$15,135
Extimité
Philippe Huart
Fine Art Drawings - 96 x 67 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 37.8 x 26.4 x 0.4 inch
$4,484
I am dissolved 1
Javier Rey
Photography - 60 x 43 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.9 x 0.1 inch
$945
Errabundeo (Córdoba 2)
Javier Rey
Photography - 53 x 80 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20.9 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,350
Thai au coucher de soleil
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
$897
Diu nu de pleine lune
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 40 x 60 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 inch
$897
Joy nu de pleine lune
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
$897
Le Rolleiflex - Série Les Caprices de Madame Bovary
Takala
Photography - 105 x 105 x 4 cm Photography - 41.3 x 41.3 x 1.6 inch
$1,682
La Coquette
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$880
Divisible, indivisible
Olivier Massebeuf
Painting - 146 x 114 x 3 cm Painting - 57.5 x 44.9 x 1.2 inch
$2,018
Breaking ties, sinking ship.
Gabrielle Rul
Painting - 42.5 x 41.5 x 1 cm Painting - 16.7 x 16.3 x 0.4 inch
$785
Sud
Witold Pyzik
Fine Art Drawings - 70 x 50 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$2,018
La mer se retire
Witold Pyzik
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.2 inch
$2,018
Mademoiselle
Martine Lingelser-Schmidt
Sculpture - 36 x 23 x 7 cm Sculpture - 14.2 x 9.1 x 2.8 inch
$1,345
Pas d’bleu
Martine Lingelser-Schmidt
Sculpture - 20 x 16 x 6 cm Sculpture - 7.9 x 6.3 x 2.4 inch
$1,121
Danseurs
Martine Lingelser-Schmidt
Sculpture - 28 x 14 x 12 cm Sculpture - 11 x 5.5 x 4.7 inch
$1,121
I am fleeting #12. From I am fleeting Series
Javier Rey
Photography - 110 x 165 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 65 x 0.1 inch
$2,450
Engulfment Cartagena 8
Javier Rey
Photography - 73 x 110 x 0.3 cm Photography - 28.7 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
$1,750
Engulfment Cartagena 6
Javier Rey
Photography - 65 x 43 x 0.3 cm Photography - 25.6 x 16.9 x 0.1 inch
$1,100
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.