Human body
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The ecstasy on the seventh heaven
Stefan Georgiev
Painting - 80 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$3,684
Benji - Dance of sorrow
Willem Botha
Sculpture - 75 x 20 x 25 cm Sculpture - 29.5 x 7.9 x 9.8 inch
$7,814
Journey to the end of the dream
Danielle Le Bricquir
Painting - 81 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 31.9 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$5,358
Conception, The Liberations
Paige Bradley
Sculpture - 86.4 x 20.3 x 25.4 cm Sculpture - 34 x 8 x 10 inch
$18,000
Sisyphe IV
Patrick Strajnic
Photography - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,440
Sisyphe III
Patrick Strajnic
Photography - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,440
Laetitia
Badriot
Fine Art Drawings - 26 x 21 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.4 inch
$3,349
Fragmented-Untitled 4
Ying Chen
Photography - 203.2 x 152.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 80 x 60 x 0.1 inch
$4,000
Erato, The Goddess (Blue)
Paige Bradley
Sculpture - 61 x 15.2 x 15.2 cm Sculpture - 24 x 6 x 6 inch
$10,100
Birth (Maquette), The Sphere (Blue)
Paige Bradley
Sculpture - 50.8 x 12.7 x 20.3 cm Sculpture - 20 x 5 x 8 inch
$9,450
Glo V GF
Patrick Strajnic
Photography - 100 x 100 x 4 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$1,440
Illumination (Third-Life) w/electricity
Paige Bradley
Sculpture - 47 x 67.3 x 33.7 cm Sculpture - 18.5 x 26.5 x 13.25 inch
$14,500
Rod Stewart – Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, 1976
David Steen
Photography - 97 x 137 x 0.01 cm Photography - 38.2 x 53.9 x 0 inch
$4,130
Fluid amber
Constantin Ford
Sculpture - 60.96 x 17.78 x 20.32 cm Sculpture - 24 x 7 x 8 inch
$14,121
Fluid mirror
Constantin Ford
Sculpture - 60.96 x 17.78 x 20.32 cm Sculpture - 24 x 7 x 8 inch
$8,484
The scarf
Dimitar Voynov - Junior
Painting - 90 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$5,358
Through time
Dimitar Voynov - Junior
Painting - 65 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$5,023
Yes, Picasso
Dimitar Voynov - Junior
Painting - 70 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$5,358
The blue wood
Dimitar Voynov - Junior
Painting - 68 x 78 x 2 cm Painting - 26.8 x 30.7 x 0.8 inch
$5,358
Chut je suis au tél...
Eric Doisy
Painting - 60 x 80 x 1 cm Painting - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,284
Erosi Art - Bananas - Tribute to Handy Wharol (20)
Erosi Art
Photography - 78 x 60 x 0.8 cm Photography - 30.7 x 23.6 x 0.3 inch
$726
Haskins Posters Front Cover
Sam Haskins
Photography - 61.2 x 52.7 cm Photography - 24.09 x 20.76 inch
$7,100
Un fantôme, les ténèbres
Dan Solojoff
Fine Art Drawings - 38 x 28 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15 x 11 inch
$391
Roman Statue Study 8
Luca Artioli
Photography - 101.6 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Roman Statue Study 8
Luca Artioli
Photography - 101.6 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Roman Statue, Study II
Luca Artioli
Photography - 101.6 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Roman Statue Study 7 B&W
Luca Artioli
Photography - 101.6 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Roman Statue Study 7
Luca Artioli
Photography - 101.6 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Seed II - From the Desert Flower series. NYC
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 58.4 x 88.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23 x 35 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Seed II, From the Desert Flower series
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Seed III, From the Desert Flower series
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Seed V, From the Desert Flower series
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Seed VI, From the Desert Flower series
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Seed IX, From the Desert Flower series
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Seed III, From the Desert Flower series
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Desert Flower, Canary Islands.
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Sans titre 13
Zan Donna
Fine Art Drawings - 32 x 24 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.6 x 9.4 x 0.4 inch
$179
Butterfly B29
Giuliano Bekor
Photography - 101.6 x 101.6 x 2.5 cm Photography - 40 x 40 x 1 inch
$20,500
Roman statue study 09. B&W
Luca Artioli
Photography - 101.6 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Idole différences 66-21
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 25 x 15 x 14 cm Sculpture - 9.8 x 5.9 x 5.5 inch
$1,395
Carmen #3
José Pirès
Fine Art Drawings - 24 x 10 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.4 x 3.9 x 0.2 inch
$469
Chess and a Chase #1
Rani Bruchstein
Photography - 60 x 60 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$4,861
A whirlwind of emotions #2
Rani Bruchstein
Photography - 60 x 60 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$4,861
1830
Salvatore Arnone
Photography - 89.9 x 69.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35.4 x 27.5 x 0.1 inch
$2,200
Portrait of a boy
Anthony Roaland
Fine Art Drawings - 41.5 x 30 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.3 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$547
Sur la plage ensoleillée...
Karine Secret
Fine Art Drawings - 29 x 20 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.4 x 7.9 inch
$307
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.