Human body
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Blue Bananas
Rakhmet Redzhepov (Ramzi)
Painting - 55 x 36 x 2 cm Painting - 21.7 x 14.2 x 0.8 inch
$1,697
I got touch by god
Ritchelly Oliveira
Painting - 200 x 147 x 2 cm Painting - 78.7 x 57.9 x 0.8 inch
$20,935
Between fragilities
Ritchelly Oliveira
Painting - 204 x 147 x 2 cm Painting - 80.3 x 57.9 x 0.8 inch
$20,935
L'ancienne machine à laver - Portrait de femme
Henry Prost
Painting - 70 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,697
Nu 27
Thomas Witte
Fine Art Drawings - 64 x 50 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.2 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$905
Precari deoS
Louis Blanc
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,132 $1,018
Le voyage au bout du monde
Linde Ergo
Sculpture - 48 x 71 x 76 cm Sculpture - 18.9 x 28 x 29.9 inch
$14,711
Ce plaisir est le mien (2)
Reno
Sculpture - 22 x 26 x 15 cm Sculpture - 8.7 x 10.2 x 5.9 inch
$1,120
Engulfment Mosquera 9
Javier Rey
Photography - 110 x 83 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 32.7 x 0.1 inch
$1,800
Engulfment Cartagena 1
Javier Rey
Photography - 110 x 125 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 49.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,950
Engulfment (Tatacóa 13)
Javier Rey
Photography - 53 x 80 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20.9 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,350
Ecstatic Nudes Check
Julia Hariri
Painting - 100 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$5,943
Errabundeo (Córdoba 7)
Javier Rey
Photography - 83 x 70 x 0.3 cm Photography - 32.7 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,485
Errabundeo (Córdoba 3)
Javier Rey
Photography - 75 x 75 x 0.3 cm Photography - 29.5 x 29.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,350
Errabundeo (Córdoba 6)
Javier Rey
Photography - 53 x 80 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20.9 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,350
Engulfment (Córdoba 7)
Javier Rey
Photography - 53 x 80 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20.9 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,350
Errabundeo (Córdoba 4)
Javier Rey
Photography - 53 x 80 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20.9 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,350
Errabundeo (Córdoba 5)
Javier Rey
Photography - 80 x 53 x 0.3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 20.9 x 0.1 inch
$1,350
New Baby on the bed
Bert Stern
Photography - 31 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
$4,527
Singularity - Un Anonyme Nu Dans Le Salon
Idan Wizen
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$849
Ecouter le silence
Deville-Chabrolle
Sculpture - 39 x 28 x 26 cm Sculpture - 15.4 x 11 x 10.2 inch
$14,485
Waiting for the third
Liana Asatryan
Painting - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
$600
Thought I wasn't enough
Janet Adebayo
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 1 inch
$1,990
Deconstructed Body (Red)
Rebecca Yunjeong Lee
Painting - 47 x 36 x 3 cm Painting - 18.5 x 14.2 x 1.2 inch
$620
To be honest
Rebecca Yunjeong Lee
Painting - 45.5 x 35 x 3 cm Painting - 17.9 x 13.8 x 1.2 inch
$620
L'origine du monde (2)
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 50 x 100 cm Photography - 19.7 x 39.4 inch
$905
Guerrière avec boule à paillettes
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 22 x 22 x 1 cm Photography - 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,075
Eclipse, Melancholy serie
Olha Vlasova
Painting - 100 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,697
Moonlight, Figurative neon painting
Olha Vlasova
Painting - 100 x 60 x 2.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 23.6 x 1 inch
$2,037
Life from wheels
Daniil Danailov
Sculpture - 70 x 40 x 32 cm Sculpture - 27.6 x 15.7 x 12.6 inch
$962
Lady In Purple
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 20 x 20 x 1 cm Painting - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
$1,697
Nude No. 4
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,697
Nude No.3
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,697
Nude No.2
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,697
Nude No.1
Charlotte Hannah Crawford
Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,697
Processus Léa 17
Yannick Bouillault
Sculpture - 46 x 40 x 37 cm Sculpture - 18.1 x 15.7 x 14.6 inch
$2,150
Sans titre
Ayako David Kawauchi
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 23 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 9.1 x 0 inch
$1,018
Entrée en matière – Je ne me souviens plus des prénoms
Jean-Pierre Le Boul'ch
Painting - 56 x 48 x 2 cm Painting - 22 x 18.9 x 0.8 inch
$1,811
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.