Considerations on the Human Body in European Art from Ancient Times to Present Day (original) (raw)

Abstract

The present considerations on the human body tried to place the exploration of the topic in its radically cultural dimension, hence the references to the body being already addressed to the anthropomorphic, descriptive, symbolic sign completely emerged in artistic exercise. We outlined artistic findings from old times to contemporaneity wherever the motive of the human body was central in this selection; furthermore, the nude has made and still makes the subject of convergent discourses on its representation, intensity or weakening of its capacity for signifying. Land of inexhaustible negotiation between nature and culture, available to primitivism, always found again as more sophisticated, transformed by the demands imposed throughout history, ideals and illusions, the body imposes itself on cultural conscience as an irreducible challenge. This paper is consecrated to the nude and aims at overviewing a large series of investigations from European art on the topic. I believe that from more ancient times to contemporaneity, the human body proved to be an excellent landmark in the approach of any artist; moreover, this seduction will continue to exert itself on the upcoming artists, irrespective of the future's artistic tendencies. The fact that, in time, the human figure has been an extremely important motive for the artistic laboratory determined me to choose this topic; in addition, throughout the article, I have attempted to prove the interest in the nude, recalling the most important tendencies and manifestation from old times to contemporaneity. In this approach, we started from the finding, which has actually marked many years of my creation, that the human body may show itself in a sacred and profane hypostasis; as a result, this study was structured to account for the two dimensions. Along the documentation and drafting, I realized that, in fact, the human body can only be sacred even in its nude hypostasis. The purpose of the present paper is far from exhausting the problematic of the human body; its aim is to draw attention to the importance of the topic. The concerns on this topic have taken various forms throughout art history. We brought into play the significance of the human body in Old Greeks quoting Thucydides who argued that the difference between Greeks and barbarians was marked in a civilising way since nudity had become the rule in the Olympic Games; I wrote on Christian art during the first centuries AD, then about the art of the Middle Ages which brought profound changes to the

Figures (8)

The neoclassical period at the beginning of the 19" century preferred the heroic nude, bearer of high moral virtues. Walking on the footsteps of

The neoclassical period at the beginning of the 19" century preferred the heroic nude, bearer of high moral virtues. Walking on the footsteps of

“en ree The fight needs to be understood here, as tension between the modern acuity of perception and refinements of moderns’, contemporaries’ nudes often envisage a synthesis between the classical Greeks, Renaisscentists, Roman field of evolution which comports a rede apparently gratuitous, on the contrary, plenitude cannot be reached through t concrete. Similar to our contemporaries, ne ignorance he ancient art. The ics that happily encounter on the finition of painting in relation with he problematic of the moment and the millennial inheritance. Although he theme of egitimate relation with contemporary problems and the nude implies a aspirations. Classical of vitality and the Poussin noted atter, he argued that they were “no more of this time and since forever”. the beauty of young girls and of the columns in the temple of Maison Carrée in Nimes; on the han old copies of the young bodies Centuries before Vitruvius had nostulated the nronortions of the

“en ree The fight needs to be understood here, as tension between the modern acuity of perception and refinements of moderns’, contemporaries’ nudes often envisage a synthesis between the classical Greeks, Renaisscentists, Roman field of evolution which comports a rede apparently gratuitous, on the contrary, plenitude cannot be reached through t concrete. Similar to our contemporaries, ne ignorance he ancient art. The ics that happily encounter on the finition of painting in relation with he problematic of the moment and the millennial inheritance. Although he theme of egitimate relation with contemporary problems and the nude implies a aspirations. Classical of vitality and the Poussin noted atter, he argued that they were “no more of this time and since forever”. the beauty of young girls and of the columns in the temple of Maison Carrée in Nimes; on the han old copies of the young bodies Centuries before Vitruvius had nostulated the nronortions of the

an image ta ken over so frequently by artists since hose times to the contemporary era. (Fig. 8) Beyond the balance of the close forms, the human body is avail (the ecstatic Nike (Fig. 9), Paionios’s sculpture looks as if it were wal able for other expressions, for a dynamic d body, the pathetically discharged body, the elegantly, dis wings seem to be mere artifices rather dictated by legend t ialogue with space enthusiastic body). king decisively and playing a particular energy, a sensation of ascension for which han used in art.

an image ta ken over so frequently by artists since hose times to the contemporary era. (Fig. 8) Beyond the balance of the close forms, the human body is avail (the ecstatic Nike (Fig. 9), Paionios’s sculpture looks as if it were wal able for other expressions, for a dynamic d body, the pathetically discharged body, the elegantly, dis wings seem to be mere artifices rather dictated by legend t ialogue with space enthusiastic body). king decisively and playing a particular energy, a sensation of ascension for which han used in art.

would facilitate the emphasis on the element of sexuality that the classics ot European painting sublimated. However, their themes proved to be unjustified. As in classical times, in contemporaneity the “inherent ethics o: the nude” needs to be brought into play. Such approaches go back to ancien times; Polykleitos perhaps rationalized the view on the human body in the strictest manner.

would facilitate the emphasis on the element of sexuality that the classics ot European painting sublimated. However, their themes proved to be unjustified. As in classical times, in contemporaneity the “inherent ethics o: the nude” needs to be brought into play. Such approaches go back to ancien times; Polykleitos perhaps rationalized the view on the human body in the strictest manner.

Fig. 12 Matthias Grunewald, Crucifixion Fig. 13 Michellangelo Buonarroti, David

Fig. 12 Matthias Grunewald, Crucifixion Fig. 13 Michellangelo Buonarroti, David

Fig. 15 Francisco Goya, Maja nuda The reasoning of the Renaissance artists is correct if we consider that acoustic experience preceded the optical one. Harmony or consonance was he prerequisite o he totality of ex perfect balance w baroque art wou frontality, withou of forms. The gen f the time. The perfect agreement, in order to encapsulate perience, needs to admit a compromise, the ensemble of hich includes odd values. From this perspective, later on, d end classical art. Baroque art abandons the rules of manifesting itself as an experience that creates new series eral law of symmetry is always obeyed by the artists of the ime. We may discover symmetry in relation to the act of composition which influences the en balance is restore aesthetic possibil ire compositional thought based on compensation balance Rubens). (Fig. 14) We will seldom encounter works in which symmetry is approached, yet, in this case, they are component parts of ensembles in which d in the end. The art of the 20 century will unveil the ity of the tensions and forces in movement, besides symmetries and balance. The notions of dissymmetry and laterality have not been considered along art history to be susceptible to give birth to a system. Romanticism proposed irregularity as a rule, conceived more as

Fig. 15 Francisco Goya, Maja nuda The reasoning of the Renaissance artists is correct if we consider that acoustic experience preceded the optical one. Harmony or consonance was he prerequisite o he totality of ex perfect balance w baroque art wou frontality, withou of forms. The gen f the time. The perfect agreement, in order to encapsulate perience, needs to admit a compromise, the ensemble of hich includes odd values. From this perspective, later on, d end classical art. Baroque art abandons the rules of manifesting itself as an experience that creates new series eral law of symmetry is always obeyed by the artists of the ime. We may discover symmetry in relation to the act of composition which influences the en balance is restore aesthetic possibil ire compositional thought based on compensation balance Rubens). (Fig. 14) We will seldom encounter works in which symmetry is approached, yet, in this case, they are component parts of ensembles in which d in the end. The art of the 20 century will unveil the ity of the tensions and forces in movement, besides symmetries and balance. The notions of dissymmetry and laterality have not been considered along art history to be susceptible to give birth to a system. Romanticism proposed irregularity as a rule, conceived more as

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