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.

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Photography, Circus, Katerina Belkina

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Photography - 30 x 40 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 inch

€1,786

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Samuel Cueto

Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch

€800

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Michel Coste

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€200

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€1,607

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Gérard Uféras

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€1,500

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€670

Photography, Le lutteur, Chiara Dazi

Chiara Dazi

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€1,000

Photography, Vigilant, Monica Denevan

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€1,619

Photography, Manufactura 3, Oriol Texidor

Oriol Texidor

Photography - 40 x 50 x 7 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 2.8 inch

€1,260

Photography, Rayonnante (3/8), Joël Moens

Joël Moens

Photography - 110 x 110 x 2 cm Photography - 43.3 x 43.3 x 0.8 inch

€6,595

Photography, Pain, Espen Rasmussen

Espen Rasmussen

Photography - 40 x 60 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 inch

€1,100

Photography, White Dancer, Ulrich Trüssel

Ulrich Trüssel

Photography - 93 x 93 x 3 cm Photography - 36.6 x 36.6 x 1.2 inch

€3,000

Photography, Gambler, Emre

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Photography - 100 x 170 cm Photography - 39.4 x 66.9 inch

€8,000

Photography, Oriflamme, Claude Lévêque

Claude Lévêque

Photography - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch

€550

Photography, Faces, Julia Christe

Julia Christe

Photography - 123 x 145 cm Photography - 48.4 x 57.1 inch

€4,700

Photography, Bird walk, Adina Apostu

Adina Apostu

Photography - 80 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0 inch

€585

Photography, Sea, Anastasia Aureum

Sea

Anastasia Aureum

Photography - 45 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch

€1,500

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J.Léo

Photography - 30 x 40 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 inch

€1,500

Photography, No title (No42), Suki Da

Suki Da

Photography - 60 x 83 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 32.7 x 0 inch

€1,620

Photography, We are fire 3, Raul Diaz

Raul Diaz

Photography - 10.7 x 16.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 4.2 x 6.5 x 0 inch

€600

Photography, 168.05.12, Kampert Klaus

Kampert Klaus

Photography - 55 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 21.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch

€1,700

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Victor Zamanski

Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 cm Photography - 16 x 20 inch

€800

Photography, Nombril #4389, Alain Zimeray

Alain Zimeray

Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch

€700

Photography, The shroud, Rudolf B Pekar

Rudolf B Pekar

Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 cm Photography - 20 x 16 inch

€800 €720

Photography, Sans-titre, Claude Fauville

Claude Fauville

Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch

€420

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Douglas Ross

Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 cm Photography - 16 x 20 inch

€800 €680

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Elina Perrotin

Photography - 30 x 24 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0 inch

€300

Photography, My Details, Kofi Agorsor

Kofi Agorsor

Photography - 152.4 x 121.9 x 10.2 cm Photography - 60 x 48 x 4 inch

€6,429

Photography, Breath #027, Tomohide Ikeya

Tomohide Ikeya

Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch

€1,800

Photography, La honte, Sarkis

Sarkis

Photography - 12 x 21 cm Photography - 4.7 x 8.3 inch

€350

Photography, Corps en ligne, Dani Olivier

Dani Olivier

Photography - 60 x 40 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch

€1,800

Photography, Photo numero 5, Mr Stewood

Mr Stewood

Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch

€320

Photography, Fission 2, Yang Wang

Yang Wang

Photography - 120 x 64 cm Photography - 47.2 x 25.2 inch

€4,500

Photography, Soru, Olga Tobreluts

Olga Tobreluts

Photography - 50 x 70 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 inch

€1,000

Photography, Arles 23-12(A), Matt Frenot

Matt Frenot

Photography - 40 x 32 x 0.02 cm Photography - 15.7 x 12.6 x 0 inch

€490

Photography, Sensum, Nicola Bertoglio

Nicola Bertoglio

Photography - 50 x 81 x 4 cm Photography - 19.7 x 31.9 x 1.6 inch

€400

Photography, Lost Angels (S), Brice Gelot

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Photography, Kate Coyne, Richard Dunkley

Richard Dunkley

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€659

Photography, La Linea, James Sparshatt

James Sparshatt

Photography - 40 x 50 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 inch

€1,319

Photography, Lost Angels (M), Brice Gelot

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Feng Hatat

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