Human body
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Le cerveau des amoureux
Jean-Jacques Venturini
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$1,118
De la série : La beauté des femmes - thoughtfull
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 20 x 15 cm Photography - 7.9 x 5.9 inch
$1,342
They liked it at Dyffryn
Zena Blackwell
Painting - 135 x 66 x 3.5 cm Painting - 53.1 x 26 x 1.4 inch
$2,383
I am disolved #3
Javier Rey
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$945
Corps femme bras en l'air
Sébastien Langloÿs
Sculpture - 34 x 20 x 20 cm Sculpture - 13.4 x 7.9 x 7.9 inch
$2,125
1952 Asian Beauty in Paris
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 48 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 18.9 x 0.2 inch
$2,181
1952 Paris Muse sur un lit
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 46 x 60 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.1 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
$2,181
1952 Paris Muse Assise
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 57 x 45 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22.4 x 17.7 x 0.2 inch
$2,181
1952 Paris Muse debout
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 58 x 45 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22.8 x 17.7 x 0.2 inch
$1,063
1952 Paris Muse assise Paris Muse sitting
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 58 x 45 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22.8 x 17.7 inch
$1,063
1952 Paris Muse de dos
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 68 x 44.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 26.8 x 17.5 inch
$1,510
1952 Paris Muse Le Lit The Bed
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.2 inch
$2,181
1952 PARIS MUSE La voluptueuse Voluptuousness
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.2 inch
$2,181
Les Trois Grâces 1987 The Threee Graces
Reza
Painting - 49 x 34 cm Painting - 19.3 x 13.4 inch
$1,286
Les Trois Grâces 1987 The Three Graces
Reza
Painting - 49 x 34 cm Painting - 19.3 x 13.4 inch
$1,174 $587
Les Nus blancs 1986 The White Nudes
Reza
Painting - 49 x 34 cm Painting - 19.3 x 13.4 inch
$1,174 $587
1986 Femme nue lovée 1986 Yellow Nude
Reza
Painting - 49 x 34 cm Painting - 19.3 x 13.4 inch
$1,398 $699
Gold Titan 1985 Sculpture murale
Reza
Sculpture - 35 x 18 x 3 cm Sculpture - 13.8 x 7.1 x 1.2 inch
$2,181
Titan argent nu au cube noir Titan Male nude
Reza
Sculpture - 36 x 15 x 3 cm Sculpture - 14.2 x 5.9 x 1.2 inch
$2,181
De la série : La beauté des femmes - On the warpath
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 20 x 15 cm Photography - 7.9 x 5.9 inch
$1,342
De la série : La beauté des femmes - upwards
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 15 x 20 cm Photography - 5.9 x 7.9 inch
$1,342
De la série : La beauté des femmes - coquetry
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 15 x 20 cm Photography - 5.9 x 7.9 inch
$1,342
Misty and Claire
Nathalie Daoust
Photography - 45 x 65 x 1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 25.6 x 0.4 inch
$1,230
Chinese Interior #7
Robert van der Hilst
Photography - 42 x 49 cm Photography - 16.5 x 19.3 inch
$2,013
La dynamique des corps - Jours 02 - 04 - 05 - 08
La Robotte
Painting - 21 x 60 x 0.5 cm Painting - 8.3 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
$447
Il latte
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,930
Schiele 1984 tribute 3
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,286
Banc de sable
Lesya Rozova
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,342
Chinese Interior #9
Robert van der Hilst
Photography - 42 x 49 cm Photography - 16.5 x 19.3 inch
$2,013
Big Odalisque
Florence Sartori
Sculpture - 110 x 30 x 30 cm Sculpture - 43.3 x 11.8 x 11.8 inch
$3,579
Anatomías descriptivas IV
José Fernández Morán
Painting - 48 x 67 cm Painting - 18.9 x 26.4 inch
$1,258
Sous la douche
Herve Malcom Thomas
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.4 inch
$2,069
La tête
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 96 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 37.8 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,930
Danza de Fortuna Tres. From the series "Danza de Fortuna"
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
Danza de fortuna. From the series, Danza de fortuna
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
1984 Hommage a Schiele Tribute 2
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,957
Lovers 10 Amoureux
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,957
Lovers 7 Amoureux
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,063
Lovers 6 Amoureux
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
$1,957
NUDE Lovers 3
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,063
NUDE Lovers 2
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,007
Broken Myth (Diptych)
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$5,000
1952 Paris Muse aux seins nus
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 46 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 18.1 x 0.2 inch
$1,063
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.