The Image of the Body in Its Historical Transformation (original) (raw)

Considerations on the Human Body in European Art from Ancient Times to Present Day

Anastasis. Research in Medieval Culture and Art, 2019

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

Perception of the Body in the Middle Ages in Light of the Polish Chronicles

Res Historica, 2020

The aim of this article is to show the perception of a body in the Middle Ages through the prism of Polish chronicles. For this purpose, the Chronicle of Gallus Anonymus, the Polish Chronicle of Wincenty Kadłubek, the Chronicle of Wielkopolska and the Chronicle of Jan of Czarnków were analyzed in terms of occurrence of body references, both quantitative, metaphorical, symbolic and veristic. Although the chronicles are a source of information on mentality of their times, they are subject to the literary conventions used at the time, which needs to be borne in mind when interpreting the obtained data. In the presentation of the results, the division of a body into noble parts (head, heart), non-noble ones (belly, hands, genitals), and filters (eyes, lips and ears) was applied. According to this division, individual elements of the body were discussed and their appearance in chronicles was shown. Studies have shown that the number of body messages in all four chronicles come to 297 mentions. No chronicler, apart from Wincenty Kadłubek, directly explained his attitude to the body. Kadłubek, speaking through his characters, shows body and soul as two integral elements. The political metaphor was noted above all in relation to the head as a metaphor of a ruler or a leader. It should be noted that these studies are an introduction to the research on the perception of the body in Polish Middle Ages.

Body as Object of Historical Research: Bibliographic Review

International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, 2019

This study aimed at describing, by means of a literature review, some possible meanings of the body through history. This study was conducted by collected bibliographic data of published books in Portuguese in the last 10 years, from known authors, mentioned in articles of anthropology, sociology and psychology. The articles found were organized as research and review articles and later categorized according to the theme. We discussed the possible understanding the meaning of body according with time, looking for its modification and impact.

The Jewish Body. Corporeality, Society and Identity in the Renaissance and Early Modern Period

European Journal of Jewish Studies, 2011

This new book, edited by Maria Diemling and Giuseppe Veltri, fills a gap in scholarship regarding Jewish perceptions of the body during the Early Modern period-a subject much en vogue in such diverse fields as philosophy, sociology, literary theory, history, and psychology. This present contribution is no exception to the variety of fields that are dealt with. However, all of them have-in some way-a common link to Jewish Studies. Such a book is to be welcomed, for it enters into dialogue with a series of discussions at the forefront of various scientific fields. Its fifteen essays come from different disciplines and methodological approaches including the History of Ideas, Cultural Studies, Jewish Mysticism, Halakhic Studies, Literary Studies and Musicology. Apart from the variety of disciplines, the sheer chronological scope of the book is vast, spanning roughly from the sixteenth to eighteenth century and taking into consideration authors, texts and themes that are geographically and culturally as far apace as Italy, the Ottoman Empire and Eastern Europe. It is divided into four different parts, a wise choice as it situates the articles in different approaches and perspectives which, though not always necessarily sharing the same disciplinary framework, are nonetheless linked in some way by common concerns. There is a commonality of purpose in the different texts which are included in the different parts of the book. Guided by the criteria of the overriding concerns of the authors of the different essays, the four parts indicate similar preoccupations on the part of the various scholars who have contributed to this book. The first part, entitled "The Body in Historical and Social Context," deals with the complex problem of the body, its regulation, constrictions and discipline in society. Here, a variety of contextual, theoretical and methodological approaches abound. Roni Weinstein, for example, deals with the problem of how the body was perceived, considered and regimented in his essay "The Rise of the Body in Early Modern Jewish Society: The Italian Case Study." Taking as his starting point Italian Jewish communities in the sixteenth century, Weinstein takes into account a number of mystical, philosophical and halackic texts to defend the notion of an

The Body as Object of Historical Research: Bibliographic Review

This study aimed at describing, by means of a literature review, some possible meanings of the body through history. This study was conducted by collected bibliographic data of published books in Portuguese in the last 10 years, from known authors, mentioned in articles of anthropology, sociology and psychology. The articles found were organized as research and review articles and later categorized according to the theme. We discussed the possible understanding the meaning of body according with time, looking for its modification and impact. Abstract This study aimed at describing, by means of a literature review, some possible meanings of the body

On Bodies and Images in the Middle Ages

DigitAR - Revista Digital de Arqueologia, Arquitectura e Artes, 2015

The International Symposium "O Corpo através da imagem", held in Coimbra in October 2013, addressed the study of body representation throughout History from a multidisciplinary viewpoint. Responding to the Symposium’s scientific challenges, the objective of this paper was to establish a theoretical, general, and global framework on the body in the Middle Ages. The determinants of the body, its uses and functions and its depiction in the medieval image are thus the main issues approached in this study.

Soul, Body and Gender in Late Antiquity: Essays on Embodiment and Disembodiment

Soul, Body and Gender in Late Antiquity: Essays on Embodiment and Disembodiment, 2023

Including both traditional and underrepresented accounts and geographies of soul, body, gender, and sexuality in late antique history, philosophy, and theology, this volume offers substantial re-readings of these and related concepts through theories of dis/embodiment. Bringing together gender studies, late antique philosophy, patristics, history of asceticism, and history of Indian philosophy, this interdisciplinary volume examines the notions of dis/embodiment and im/materiality in late antique and early Christian culture and thought. The book’s geographical scope extends beyond the ancient Mediterranean, providing comparative perspectives from Late Antiquity in the Near East and South Asia. It offers critical interpretations of late antique scholarly objects of inquiry, exploring close readings of soul, body, gender, and sexuality in their historical context. These fascinating studies engage scholars from different fields and research traditions with one another, and reveal both change and continuity in the perception and social role of gender, sexuality, body, and soul in this period. Soul, Body, and Gender in Late Antiquity is a valuable resource for students and scholars of Classics, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as those working on late antique and early Christian history, philosophy, and theology.

The Human Body Between Past and Present, the New Self and Body-Self

Rethinking Social Action. Core Values in Practice, 2017

The body was both subject and object of the study, analysis and discussion over time for scientists, if we accept the idea that they were at the beginnings of humanity. This statement is supported by the many written and unwritten sources, possibilities to perform movements were the main factor in meeting the necessities of biological, physiological, spiritual, and entertainment specific to humans. Practice of physical exercises to train body image reached the current stage of development of society is the result of multiple determinations, of which seems necessary to highlight the importance of three ones: continued development of formal and non-formal, creating free time as permanent social reality, intense movement and changing specific values of the phenomenon, supported by modern conditions of civilization. Thus, we find that today many individuals of both genders are unsatisfied by their physical appearance, in particular by the size and shape of own bodies. From this point of view it is to distinguish women who are most concerned to change this, most often through diet or using extreme methods of weight control, including starvation, elimination of voluntary food intake, diuretics or laxative abuse and applying exercise programs incompatible with their preparation. This paper aims to demonstrate that physical activity, carried out systematically through a fitness program, contributes directly to the improvement of the structure and functions of various organs and systems of the body. This approach of the problem leads mostly to eat disorder incidence much higher among them than men, which means that it is useful image issues of the body and nutrition lie on a continuum, depending on their severity.

The Value and Mystery of the Body in Fulfilling the Human as Aspects of the Iconic Antropology Inside of the Theology of the Scythian Monks

Altarul Reîntregirii, 2017

Starting from the wording Unus de Trinitatepassusest carne, the present study aims to discover through the Christology of the Scythian monks (Dacian-Romans) those essential elements of the iconic anthropology that make transparent the theological perspective of assuming the human body by the Divine Logos who, by becoming human , became His body forever, to shine through it the light and the life of the divinity in the epectasis process of deification. Thus the value and the mystery of the body illustrates the fulfillment of the human as an essential factor in the theological thinking referring to the possibility of the iconographic representation of the Son of God, of God's Mother, of the saints and of the deifying events in the economy of the salvation.