Contrapposto: The Pose That Taught the West How to Look at the Body
Before contrapposto, the human body stood stiffly in art. Two feet planted flat, weight evenly distributed, spine a rigid vertical.
body in art
The Vanishing Male Nude: How Art History’s Most Important Body Became Its Most Invisible
Walk through any major museum and count the nudes. If you started in the Greek and Roman galleries, you would
Jean Dubuffet Was Born 125 Years Ago Today. His Corps de Dames Made the Female Nude Brutal — and That Was the Point.
Jean Dubuffet was born on this day, July 31, 1901, in Le Havre. The son of wine merchants, he would
Henry Moore Was Born 128 Years Ago Today. How His Reclining Nudes Changed What a Human Body Could Be.
On July 30, 1898, a boy was born in a cramped miner’s cottage in Castleford, Yorkshire, who would spend the
Vincent van Gogh Died 136 Years Ago Today. What He Taught Us About the Human Body.
Vincent van Gogh died on July 29, 1890 — 136 years ago today. He was 37. The mythology is familiar:
Marcel Duchamp Was Born 139 Years Ago Today. How Nude Descending a Staircase Changed What a Body Could Be in Art.
On July 28, 1887 — 139 years ago today — Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp was born in Blainville-Crevon, Normandy. He would grow
Why Artists Have Been Painting Bathers for 500 Years — and What the Motif Reveals About the Body in Art
There is a quiet conspiracy in Western art history, and it has been running for half a millennium. If you
George Grosz Was Born 133 Years Ago Today. He Drew Berlin’s Naked Truth — and the Body Never Lied.
George Grosz was born on July 26, 1893, in Berlin. He would become one of the most devastating draftsmen of
Thomas Eakins Was Born 182 Years Ago Today. He Risked Everything to Paint the Nude as Truth.
Thomas Eakins was born on July 25, 1844, in Philadelphia, and 182 years later, we still haven’t caught up to
Alphonse Mucha Was Born 166 Years Ago Today. He Made the Nude Body Into Ornament — and Changed Art Forever.
On this day in 1860, in the small Moravian town of Ivančice, a boy was born who would grow up