Human body
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No16 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 91.4 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 36 x 0.1 inch
£1,329
N° 611 Il y avait de la buée.
R. Cavalié
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 65 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0 inch
£197
Body ( by Man III B)
Eulogia Merle
Painting - 60 x 46 x 4 cm Painting - 23.6 x 18.1 x 1.6 inch
£1,044
Beatrix and Zsuzsa Dancing
Milburn-Foster
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
£6,086
No43 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 91 x 91 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.8 x 35.8 x 0 inch
£1,320
The midnight espresso
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 100 x 70 x 1.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.6 inch
£1,790
Collection Purity - Un Anonyme Nu Dans Le Salon - HB1371
Idan Wizen
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£134
The Boomer Collection - HB3032
Idan Wizen
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£134
Série Backstage - F0597 – The alien
Idan Wizen
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£134
Figure Forgée 137
Philippe Olive
Sculpture - 137 x 20 x 30 cm Sculpture - 53.9 x 7.9 x 11.8 inch
£1,074
Dos féminin
Frédérique Maillart
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 20 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 7.9 x 0 inch
£430
Ninfa si bagna-Tuand studio
Giacomo Tuand
Painting - 126 x 65 x 2 cm Painting - 49.6 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
£11,858
The memory of a carefree summer
Vasyl Khodakivskyi
Painting - 60 x 65 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
£1,342
I'm not afraid anymore
Dasha Pogodina
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
£1,414
N° 825 La belle personne 2.
R. Cavalié
Fine Art Drawings - 56 x 65 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22 x 25.6 x 0.1 inch
£179
Antique games. Antique drama.
Nadezda Stupina
Painting - 100 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
£5,862
Histoire d'été
Volodymyr Kolesnyk
Painting - 100 x 85 x 2.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 33.5 x 1 inch
£3,892
Les bonnes manières
Herve Malcom Thomas
Painting - 89 x 146 x 2.5 cm Painting - 35 x 57.5 x 1 inch
£1,208
Discus thrower's torso
Barry Davies
Sculpture - 60 x 48 x 25 cm Sculpture - 23.6 x 18.9 x 9.8 inch
£1,307
Véronique Pastor, Les Eternels 13 juin
Véronique Pastor
Painting - 95 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 37.4 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
£2,685
Meli melo 4
Dominique Payen
Fine Art Drawings - 45 x 30 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£313
Meli Melo 1
Dominique Payen
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 45 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
£313
Belisama L'envol
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 36 x 34 x 14 cm Sculpture - 14.2 x 13.4 x 5.5 inch
£2,193
Rencontre d'un faune dans le silence de la forêt
Catherine Clare
Painting - 65 x 92 x 2.5 cm Painting - 25.6 x 36.2 x 1 inch
£1,477
L'air du grand large
Catherine Clare
Painting - 65 x 54 x 2.5 cm Painting - 25.6 x 21.3 x 1 inch
£1,432
In the shade
Mourad Cherifi
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.02 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
£1,074
Vibrant célébration
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 109 x 125 x 0.6 cm Painting - 42.9 x 49.2 x 0.2 inch
£5,280
Morning Light
Aurélien Buttin
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£805
Morning cigarette
Aurélien Buttin
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£805
Erotic dream. The last dinner
Genia Sheyn
Painting - 60 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
£1,137
Le bord de mer (Réf. 139)
Jérôme Mesnager
Painting - 55 x 46 x 3 cm Painting - 21.7 x 18.1 x 1.2 inch
£1,208
Liberté Au Coucher De Soleil (Réf. 200)
Jérôme Mesnager
Painting - 55 x 46 x 3 cm Painting - 21.7 x 18.1 x 1.2 inch
£1,208
L'origine du monde (Namibie)
Vincent Citot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
£671
Mathilde étendue
David Martin
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£895
The Blue Cushion
Isabelle Hirtzig
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0 inch
£85
Do it yourself, France.
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
£1,576
Nu au fauteuil bleu
Philippe Pasqua
Painting - 200 x 150 x 3 cm Painting - 78.7 x 59.1 x 1.2 inch
£9,845
Version rock
Isabelle Hirtzig
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£192
#10. From La Piedra Sustituta II Series
José Sierra
Photography - 101.6 x 67.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 26.6 x 0.1 inch
£1,659
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.