The human form is arguably the subject that has garnered more artistic attention than any other, but why? Why are we all so fascinated with the human body? Throughout the ages, whether scrawled roughly on a cave wall or painstakingly applied to canvas with paint, man has been mesmerized and transfixed by this subject. The way in which this subject has been depicted over the years has changed greatly, from the realistic religious imagery of the high Renaissance to the disembodied figures of surrealism, the way we see the body and indeed ourselves has changed.
Whether it's down to our mutual obsession with the couplings of sex or our obsession with ourselves, no other imagery has inspired more thought or aroused more passions than the human form. We’ve been programmed since early man to recognise and read human expressions and forms.
In many ways it's a hard-wired ability we all share and maybe this is where our joint interest comes from, its a subject incredibly relatable to everyone, no matter your colour or creed.
Francis Bacon
"If you can talk about it, why paint it?" (Quote 7 of 11. 2017)
His work has been described as grotesque, disturbed, bold and emotionally raw but who was the man behind the screams and hanging carcasses?
Francis Bacon was born into a large and wealthy family on the 28th October 1909, they had just recently immigrated to Ireland and it was here that he spent his formative years.
Life at home was traumatic and frosty for the young Francis, his father was argumentative and wholly displeased with the way his son was turning out and his mother although fond of the company of others was inclined to self-absorption. (Biography 1910’s, 2017).
It was also during these early years where the first signs of his blooming homosexuality became clear to his family which also strained the relationships even further and which would eventually get him expelled from the family home when his father caught him trying on his mother's underwear, an event made even worse because of his strong and unhealthy physical attraction towards his own father.
This event would be one of the turning points in his life and the one with which would eventually lead to him to becoming an artist. (Biography 1920’s, 2017).
In his early career Picasso and cubism was a big source of inspiration and influenced his work heavily but Francis has always been at his core a surrealist figurative painter. (Early training, 2017).
Working in oil paint was his chosen medium, he was completely self-taught and never had a formal education in art but he did, however, have a succession of experienced mentors and it was his first Roy de Maistre who would first introduce him to the medium. (Biography 1930’s, 2017).
Alot of the imagery and compositional elements used in his work are very religious, for example the piece entitled “Crucifixion 1933” is a depiction of a solitary hanging carcass of meat sprawled as if nailed to a cross, this directly links to his own views of life, he was a strong Atheist and it's this notion and belief which under pegs all his work, the pointlessness of this existence, the nihilistic quality that all is for nothing and the absurdity of the human condition, the way we all strive for purpose and meaning, he is showing us what we really are, pieces of meat.
(Crucifixion 1933, 2017).
The colour for these subjects would on the most part remain the same, muted greys and blacks with the occasional hint of colour, the variety would only come with his backgrounds changing from vibrant oranges to pitch blacks. In the piece entitled “Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion“ this contrast between the figures and the background is at its finest and most striking, it frames the individual work and demands the viewer to think where this scene is and what these forms represent.
(Three studies, 2017)
He had the ability to channel such raw imagery through his paintbrush and it’s application of paint, lines of color would streak and brake, forms would mold into one and other then reappear with striking intensity. Even his work which only seems to depict a languishing surrealist shapes, there are subtle hints to the human form in the way the object is posed and positioned and its this subject (the human form) which would recur in his work time and time again.
Lone male or female figures trapped inside transparent boxes cut off and void of any company reflects in many ways his own personality, an outsider a person who was rejected by his family and society at the time for his sexuality, a person deeply troubled by life in general.
His work has struck a very profound chord with me personally, I can't help but share his views on the absurdity of this human existence, his rawness in depicting the human form is what attracts me so much to his work, Its grotesque, warped and often suspended in unnatural poses, the forms look as if there writhing in agony and left in a perpetual state of tension, its almost a symbolic representation of the world today with the threat of war and famine a constant and inescapable fear. His work is blunt and to the point, he showed us his vision of what the true reality of this world looks like and it's these characters and ideas which would be part of his enduring legacy as one of the most important figurative artists of the 20th century.
Lucian Freud
"What do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince." (Quote 6 of 10, 2018)
Lucian Freud's unwavering and uncompromising approach to figurative painting paved the way for a whole series of new and contemporary figurative artists, he had this almost inherent ability to render even the most attractive of his sitters ugly (an aspect not carried onto his own self portraits). (Synopsis, 2018)
He was born on December 8th, 1922 into an incredibly artistic middle-class Jewish household, his father being an architect and mother an art historian.
In 1933 the family left Berlin and settled in London, this is where Lucian remained for much of his life and where his studio would eventually be based. (Childhood and education, 2018)
Because of this artistic atmosphere he started producing art at a very young age and displayed a natural talent but despite this, he was forced to leave a number of schools for his unruly behaviour. (Early training, 2018)
He was by his own account an incredibly self absorbed and narcissistic person but this had the unlikely benefit of giving us one of the most comprehensive collections of self-portraits by any artist, spanning a length of six decades, this gives us a valuable and insightful view behind his own idea of himself. (Key ideas, 2018)
Many of his self portraits show an atmosphere of masculinity and power, in the piece entitled “Reflection with two children”, he’s positioned himself as to be above the observer, his head is angled downwards with his face contorted into a grimace or sneer, it's about as subtle as a hammer blow, he might of well as just painted the words look at how small and unimportant you are and see how big and clever I am, It’s this air of self-importance and illusion of his own beauty that really reflects in his work. This painting of Kate Moss is a perfect reflection of his own self-portrait, she's considered one of the most beautiful women in the world but under his critical eye shes, if I dare say it, ugly.
(Reflection with two children, 2018)
(Kate Moss, 2018)
The way in which he painted his models is now something of a legend, often requiring multiple sittings lasting all day and spanned over many months, this style of working wasn't something intentional but was fundamentally linked to the way he saw and had to depict his subject, he was almost obsessive about capturing every aspect of his sitter, every feature and flaw in his mind must be represented and this often ended in the mutual frustration of painter and sitter alike, His sitters almost exclusively consisted of friends or family members. (Mature period, 2018)
The aspect I find that draws me to his work is his almost disregard for the notion of beauty, he's not bothered with it, instead, it's about capturing every detail and flaw of his sitter's face and body as he sees it, adding nothing and taking nothing away.
It's this representation of the human form which really makes him stand out among other artists, it goes against societies and indeed our own individual obsessions with beauty and by portraying it in this way shows us the fallacy in this view.
Otto Dix
“I'll either be famous or infamous” (Quote 6 of 7, 2018)
Otto dix is best remembered for his incredibly satirical work revolving around the Weimar society and his powerful depictions of the horrors of war. (Synopsis, 2018)
He was born in Unterhaus, Germany on the 2nd December 1891. His parents were somewhat artistic, his father making molds for a foundry and his mother a seamstress.
He showed an early interest in art and after an experience involving being a sitter for Fritz Amann he decided to follow a career in the subject. (Biography, childhood, 2018)
He started off like most artists by doing small sketches and drawings, then moving onto paintings but its when he found printmaking that I think, the combination between the subject matter he chose and the inherent style of printmaking, produced his most thought provoking and powerful work.
The imagery and subject matter was raw, depicting scenes of conflict and destruction, these were made even more important and thought provoking for the fact they aren't simply pieces of imaginative fiction, they are from his own memories. It's this portrayal of the human form which stays with you after viewing his work, man is almost a piece of rubble, tattered and torn, bent and broken to the point it's almost unrecognisable. (Mature period, 2018)
The piece entitled “Verwundeter (Wounded Soldier)” really showcases his ability to convey this subject as it truly is, the cold penetrating stare and the falling debris really gives you a sense of actually being on the frontlines.
(Verwundeter, Wounded Soldier, 2018)
The war remains an almost constant theme in his work, he was deeply disturbed (like countless others of his generation) by the things that he saw, after this experience unlike his pre-war work the imagery became a lot more somber and I think this mirrored his own thoughts and out look on the world, life had lost its innocence and beauty.
He also was an incredible satirist and his portraits of Germany's celebrities and academy elites are among his most icon works, he wanted to depict the Weimar society for what it was, corrupt and immoral. (About the artist, 2015)
He was also one of the leading figures in “Neue Sachlichkeit” (new objectivity) which was a German art movement founded in the 1920s as a reaction to the prominence and popularity of Expressionism during this time. (New objectivity, 2018)
He was a man who didn't follow the crowd and wasn't scared of voicing his own opinions, I think this must of been one of the reasons he chose to be apart of this movement. This same attitude however, would eventually lead him to the attention of the nazis following their rise to power, his work would be targeted and in a handful of situation destroyed. (Biography, Degeneration, 2015)
He work endures not just for its images of war but also its rebellious nature, society at that time had this delusion of war as an honourable and adventurous enterprise, but down to focusing on single human forms as a bases for his prints, the people of the time could relate to this imagery and force them to think and question the very reasons behind conflict and its futility.
Alberto Giacometti
"Let me know how to make only one and I will be able to make a thousand." (Quote 1 of 4, 2018)
Alberto Giacometti was born on the 10th october 1901 in Borgonovo Switzerland and like most artists was from a very artistic family. He starting sketching and drawing at a very young age, often sending them to his godfather (who was also an artist and huge influence on his life) and
thanks to this many survive to this day.
In the resulting years he experimented and explored other mediums and created his first painting at the age of just twelve. (Biography, Childhood, 2018)
He experimented with many different styles and delved into various movements over his 44 year long professional career but one of the soul and unchanging aspects was his chosen subject, the human form.
It changed from a 2 dimensional surrealist representation consisting of smooth geometric forms like in his 1928 sculpture “Gazing head” to a slender and gaunt lone figure like in his 1960 sculpture entitled “walking man I”. The very way in which he saw his sitters and models clearly changed dramatically over the years, this was to do with his increased interest in trying to create a sense of spatial awareness in his work. (Key ideas, 2018)
(Gazing Head I, 2018) (Walking man, 2018)
He wanted to achieve a sense of perspective in which the viewer could physically glimpse the way in which he saw his model thus involving the observer in an increasingly more engaging way, the viewer become a piece of the art instead of standing aloof.
Although many of his works consist of pencil sketches or oil paintings the pieces that garnished the most attention and critical acclaim are his numerous sculptures and busts. The imagery of the human form whittled down to a splinter struck a deep and profound chord with the thinking and feel of the time. They aroused thoughts of melancholy and loneliness, the single figure void of companionship left to stand still, frozen for eternity.
The very way in which he applied the clay was expressive, his work emits a sense of frozen movement like in a photograph, there's always that feel of tension which is brought about when holding a static pose.
His work arouses many feelings for more, mostly consisting of loneliness and melancholy. The somber expression of his busts staring blankly towards some distant unseeable horizon reminds me of the expression we all have when lost deeply in our own thoughts. That's the significance and importances of his work for me the reflective nature it has, it leads you into thoughts about the nature of existence, the nature of the self and how we all see each other and what it truly means to be an individual in this manic and cluttered world.
Conclusion
I have discovered through doing these essays that the very way in which an individual portrays the human form is undeniably linked to the individuals own thoughts and perspectives on the world he or she sees around them.
You cannot separate the two, they exist in tandem forever changing and influencing each other, locked together in the pursuit to answer a fundamental question, who am i? In many ways I've discovered the painter does not paint what he's observing but himself, a still life, a landscape, the subject matter isn't important, the very way in which we observe is connected to our emotions, so a scene can look completely different to two different people, the scene only truly exists in our head, thus creating a world completely personalised to the individual. This aspect is what I think draws our attention to when an artist depicts the human form, the artist has captured a little piece of themselves and are displaying it in a form completely understandable to everyone, that's the power of the human form.