Human body
Save your search and find it in your favorites
Saved search
Your search is accessible from the favorites tab > My favorite searches
Unsaved search
A problem occurred
Hendrick 1
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 42 x 55 x 0.1 cm Painting - 16.5 x 21.7 x 0 inch
$837
The Sound of birds
Hildegarde Handsaeme
Painting - 100 x 160 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 63 x 0.8 inch
$6,921
Dindette & Dindonneau 2
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 39 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 15.4 x 0 inch
$557
When a man loves a woman
Tiny de Bruin
Painting - 160 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 63 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$6,419
Geo-blanket of love
Mariam Qureshi
Painting - 91.4 x 91.4 x 5.1 cm Painting - 36 x 36 x 2 inch
$3,600
La nuisette bleue
Christiane Bernais
Painting - 80 x 80 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.6 inch
$1,563
Homme noir et blanc
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 33 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 13 x 0 inch
$447
Character
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$313
Character
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$313
Character
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$313
N° 1193 Rochefort. Au musée de...
R. Cavalié
Painting - 81 x 54 x 2 cm Painting - 31.9 x 21.3 x 0.8 inch
$893
Personnage
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$313
Ouin ouin variante
Valentine Bouvet
Painting - 60 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$938
Reste avec moi
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Painting - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$2,791
Later than night
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Painting - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$3,070
Mars Unknown dream 3
Aziz Anzabi
Sculpture - 22 x 10 x 10 cm Sculpture - 8.7 x 3.9 x 3.9 inch
$26,232
Ready for the ball #2
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 70 x 50 x 1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,395
Madame coco
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 70 x 60 x 1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$1,395
Ready for the ball
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 90 x 60 x 1 cm Painting - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$1,284
Pretty painting
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 100 x 70 x 1 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
$2,121
Elegant Dominant #2
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 31 x 23 x 0.1 cm Painting - 12.2 x 9.1 x 0 inch
$726
Les femmes c'est comme les crevettes
Valentine Bouvet
Painting - 50 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 19.7 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$1,407
T2
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$356
Dancer's stretch
Richard Dunkley
Photography - 48.3 x 61 x 1.3 cm Photography - 19 x 24 x 0.5 inch
$393
Hands #5
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 29.5 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 11.6 x 0 inch
$557
Guitarist (TR07)
Atom Hovhanesyan
Painting - 91.4 x 61 x 2.5 cm Painting - 36 x 24 x 1 inch
$150,000
Harlequin-2 (TR04)
Atom Hovhanesyan
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 1 inch
$103,000
Untitled (TR03)
Atom Hovhanesyan
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 1 inch
$90,000
Woman-3 (DIV018)
Atom Hovhanesyan
Painting - 121.9 x 61 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 24 x 1 inch
$90,000
Femme rose intérieur rose
Pascal Marlin
Painting - 35 x 27 x 2 cm Painting - 13.8 x 10.6 x 0.8 inch
$391
Homme rose intérieur rose
Pascal Marlin
Painting - 35 x 27 x 2 cm Painting - 13.8 x 10.6 x 0.8 inch
$391
Seated Woman (M&R04)
Atom Hovhanesyan
Painting - 86.4 x 45.7 x 1.9 cm Painting - 34 x 18 x 0.75 inch
$42,000
Silent (M&R05)
Atom Hovhanesyan
Painting - 86.4 x 45.7 x 1.9 cm Painting - 34 x 18 x 0.75 inch
$42,000
Shine Bright
Judith Christine Riemer
Painting - 115 x 95 x 2 cm Painting - 45.3 x 37.4 x 0.8 inch
$2,679
N° 1119 Belgrade 16. Pobednik.
R. Cavalié
Painting - 41 x 24 x 2 cm Painting - 16.1 x 9.4 x 0.8 inch
$391
Ecce homo
William Mountgoaten
Sculpture - 80 x 40 x 30 cm Sculpture - 31.5 x 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$7,479
Ecce homo
William Mountgoaten
Sculpture - 190 x 40 x 40 cm Sculpture - 74.8 x 15.7 x 15.7 inch
$8,595
Look at me
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$257
Canopy 09
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$313
Canopy 20
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$313
Canopy 12
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$313
Canopy 11
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$313
Perfect Pattern - Closed Eyes
Roco Studio
Painting - 150 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 59.1 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$3,348
Me, the Painter
William Mountgoaten
Sculpture - 200 x 170 x 4.5 cm Sculpture - 78.7 x 66.9 x 1.8 inch
$12,279
Hands#1
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
$557
N° 1103 Vukovar : l'émotion.
R. Cavalié
Painting - 61 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 24 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$536
Peri is very trendy
Kristina Malashchenko
Painting - 100 x 100 x 1 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
$2,791
Scène de vie variante
Valentine Bouvet
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 inch
$246
U.S ballet dance-2
Anand Manchiraju
Painting - 76.2 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Painting - 30 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$4,000
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.