Human body
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The Sleeping Universe, Gardens of Resilience series
Tetiana Pchelnykova
Painting - 30 x 60 x 1.8 cm Painting - 11.8 x 23.6 x 0.7 inch
$392
Lac des Cerces, Hautes-Alpes, de la série Sur les chemins du Briançonnais
José Nicolas
Photography - 36 x 36 x 0.1 cm Photography - 14.2 x 14.2 x 0 inch
$561
Erosi Art - Bananas - Tribute to Handy Wharol (13)
Erosi Art
Photography - 78 x 60 x 0.8 cm Photography - 30.7 x 23.6 x 0.3 inch
$729
Shower at Night
Anyck Alvarez Kerloch
Painting - 97.8 x 72.4 x 0.5 cm Painting - 38.5 x 28.5 x 0.2 inch
$360
In the dressing room
Steven Krueger
Painting - 84 x 69 x 2 cm Painting - 33.1 x 27.2 x 0.8 inch
$6,542
Female pulse
Paraskevas Papadopoulos
Painting - 70 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch
$8,205
Two Bodies With Hidden Faces
Danylo Movchan
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 35 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 13.8 x 0 inch
$448
The pink Tara
Munkhbolor Ganbold
Painting - 168 x 109 x 1 cm Painting - 66.1 x 42.9 x 0.4 inch
$12,276
What do you see here What coud it be1
Tetiana Kalivoshko
Painting - 137.2 x 76.2 x 5.1 cm Painting - 54 x 30 x 2 inch
$6,750
Nu n° II sur carte michelin
Valérie Evrard
Photography - 16 x 22 x 0.1 cm Photography - 6.3 x 8.7 x 0 inch
$448
Nu n° I sur plan de rivière
Valérie Evrard
Photography - 16 x 22 x 0.1 cm Photography - 6.3 x 8.7 x 0 inch
$448
Pandora's Jar (keeping hope)
Nadia NL
Painting - 61 x 48.3 x 1.3 cm Painting - 24 x 19 x 0.5 inch
$416
Forme Luci Colori
Francesca Diana Martines
Painting - 46.2 x 28.2 x 0.2 cm Painting - 18.2 x 11.1 x 0.1 inch
$392
Etude -nu
Frédérique Maillart
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 20 x 0.02 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$336
Arabesque
Frédérique Maillart
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 50 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$381
Le Collectionneur
Michael Bastow
Fine Art Drawings - 144 x 55 cm Fine Art Drawings - 56.7 x 21.7 inch
$6,166
Meanwhile in Paris
Michael Bastow
Fine Art Drawings - 55 x 144 cm Fine Art Drawings - 21.7 x 56.7 inch
$6,166
Nude natural light source
Amy Benedict
Painting - 70 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch
$4,821
La beauté vétue d’espace
Danielle Balagé
Painting - 100 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
$7,736
Pavarti Signature
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 31 x 22 x 12 cm Sculpture - 12.2 x 8.7 x 4.7 inch
$1,065
Théa sur cube 2
Sylvie Bourely
Sculpture - 44 x 41 x 12 cm Sculpture - 17.3 x 16.1 x 4.7 inch
$3,139
É verdade que vimos coisas terríveis I
Pedro França
Painting - 110 x 120 x 7 cm Painting - 43.3 x 47.2 x 2.8 inch
$7,848
Nenhum, nenhum, cem mil I
Pedro França
Painting - 220 x 250 x 7 cm Painting - 86.6 x 98.4 x 2.8 inch
$12,893
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
$729
Blackest magic at work
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 76 x 56 x 0.1 cm Painting - 29.9 x 22 x 0 inch
$1,289
La lutte
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 59 x 42 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.2 x 16.5 x 0 inch
$729
Her ghost in the fog
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 59 x 42 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.2 x 16.5 x 0 inch
$729
Austin Percario
Noa Grayevsky
Photography - 45.72 x 60.69 x 0.5 cm Photography - 18 x 23.9 x 0.2 inch
$1,682
Naphta tribes VIII
Fab Rideti
Photography - 120 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$3,251
Naphta tribes VIII
Fab Rideti
Photography - 120 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$3,251
Couple Nuit
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 59 x 42 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.2 x 16.5 x 0 inch
$729
Donna en Marbre de Carrare
Tiziano Sculpteur
Sculpture - 43 x 20 x 16 cm Sculpture - 16.9 x 7.9 x 6.3 inch
$6,390
Vela en Marbre
Tiziano Sculpteur
Sculpture - 44 x 26 x 18 cm Sculpture - 17.3 x 10.2 x 7.1 inch
$7,287
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.