Human body
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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
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
$398
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
$341
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
$387
Le Collectionneur
Michael Bastow
Fine Art Drawings - 144 x 55 cm Fine Art Drawings - 56.7 x 21.7 inch
$6,252
Meanwhile in Paris
Michael Bastow
Fine Art Drawings - 55 x 144 cm Fine Art Drawings - 21.7 x 56.7 inch
$6,252
Freedom to create new body
Zhengyong Liu
Painting - 180 x 160 x 5 cm Painting - 70.9 x 63 x 2 inch
$14,778
Nude natural light source
Amy Benedict
Painting - 70 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch
$4,888
La beauté vétue d’espace
Danielle Balagé
Painting - 100 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
$7,844
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
$455
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
$455
Portrait sur carte - Mon coeur en Italie
Valérie Evrard
Photography - 22 x 16 x 0.1 cm Photography - 8.7 x 6.3 x 0 inch
$455
Théa sur cube 2
Sylvie Bourely
Sculpture - 44 x 41 x 12 cm Sculpture - 17.3 x 16.1 x 4.7 inch
$3,183
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
$7,957
Nenhum, nenhum, cem mil I
Pedro França
Painting - 220 x 250 x 7 cm Painting - 86.6 x 98.4 x 2.8 inch
$13,073
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
$739
Blackest magic at work
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Painting - 76 x 56 x 0.1 cm Painting - 29.9 x 22 x 0 inch
$1,307
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
$739
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
$739
Austin Percario
Noa Grayevsky
Photography - 45.72 x 60.69 x 0.5 cm Photography - 18 x 23.9 x 0.2 inch
$1,705
Naphta tribes VIII
Fab Rideti
Photography - 120 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$3,297
Naphta tribes VIII
Fab Rideti
Photography - 120 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$3,297
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
$739
Donna en Marbre de Carrare
Tiziano Sculpteur
Sculpture - 43 x 20 x 16 cm Sculpture - 16.9 x 7.9 x 6.3 inch
$6,480
Vela en Marbre
Tiziano Sculpteur
Sculpture - 44 x 26 x 18 cm Sculpture - 17.3 x 10.2 x 7.1 inch
$7,389
Étreinte Sanguine
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 70 x 50 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$853
IL est mien #1
Laurent Anastay-Ponsolle
Fine Art Drawings - 70 x 50 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$853
Alexandra
Andreas Sundgren
Photography - 105 x 140 x 0.1 cm Photography - 41.3 x 55.1 x 0 inch
$3,471
The Artist
Andreas Sundgren
Photography - 140 x 105 x 0.1 cm Photography - 55.1 x 41.3 x 0 inch
$3,471
Serie Anna. Moscow
Stanley Greene
Photography - 10.8 x 8.9 x 1 cm Photography - 4.3 x 3.5 x 0.4 inch
$10,231
Serie Anna. Moscow
Stanley Greene
Photography - 10.8 x 8.9 x 1 cm Photography - 4.3 x 3.5 x 0.4 inch
$10,231
Mes deux merveilles
Emilie Teillaud
Painting - 29.6 x 21 x 0.2 cm Painting - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.1 inch
$512
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.