The human figure has been a significant focus and subject in art for centuries. From the very earliest cave drawings and statues to the most recent developments in modern art, the human figure has played a key role.
I think from a very straightforward point of view, this is because we like to create art we can relate to, and what is more relatable than us? Some of the earliest sculptures and paintings that have been found depict everyday life, stylised figures or significant battles worth remembering. Even later artworks, such as the Greek and Roman statues, like to anthropomorphise, that is to make human, ideas and stories which are inherently unhuman. In this way, the idea that is being portrayed by the artwork, sometimes often very difficult to understand concepts, is suddenly made relatable and easier to access for the majority of viewers. Perhaps in a similar way that the Catholic church has used stained glass window scenes to depict stories from the Bible for its illiterate congregation.
The human figure was used to explore hidden meanings and ideas of sexuality and beauty. Throughout the classical period of art, a particular focus was paid to sculpture. Artists such as Phidias refined the technique for carving cloth draped over their figures to emphasise elegance and make many of the statues appear almost ethereal. The drama that these refined sculptures contained helped to portray ideals of beauty and grace as imagined in a human figure.
In more recent times, the use of the artists own body to inspire and create a piece of artwork, sometimes performance art, has seen increasing significance and is often used by the artist to establish a discussion about a taboo or difficult topic. Since the advent of photography and film, many artists have used this medium, along with or instead of traditional media, to create compelling and thought provoking pieces of artwork.
Since the 1960's the human body and its appearance has been used and decorated in a way that creates or rebels against an identity, imposed or otherwise. The human body is dressed in certain clothes, painted in certain colours, or decorated in certain styles which either conform or rebel against the dominant social norms of the time. At the same time, the boundaries of ideas of sexuality, sexual-ness and gender were also being pushed.
Yves Klein (1928–62) Untitled Anthropometry (ant 100) 1960. Click on image for reference.
A compelling piece of performance artwork by Yoko Ono can be viewed as questioning the boundaries of social autonomy; the audience were asked to participate in cutting pieces of Ono's clothing off one at a time. A similar, more extreme, performance, Rhythm 0 by Marina Abramović, placed the artist herself in a gallery with instructions for the audience to do anything they wanted to her with 72 objects she had placed on a table, ranging from a feather to a loaded gun, while she simply stood without emotion or expression. These sorts of performances push the boundaries of social autonomy and pose the question: what will people do if they are allowed to do whatever they want. By keeping the element of the human figure central to these performance pieces, the audience is forced to consider the 'other' as an equal and their actions become mirrors of their morals.
A significant contribution to performance art were Hans Namuth's photographs of Jackson Pollock creating his 'action paintings' which show him using his entire body and his full range of movement to paint. This in a way brought art out of the small and delicate and into the loud and expressive. Similarly, Yves Klein used women's naked bodies as a kind of paintbrush by covering them in paint and then pulling them across a canvas to create abstractions of the human figure.
Francesca Woodman explored the idea of identity and presence through her photography which used a prolonged exposure technique to capture ghostly shadows of her own body. Her artwork shows her ghostly presence while also capturing her marked absence - how much can we really know another person?
Our relationship to ourselves and to others is a fascinating one. And one that has been explored for centuries by artists through a range of mediums and performances. As the Artweb blog so eloquently puts it: "Why has the human form had such a timeless and impacting effect on the arts?"
"The reason behind this is simple: we are human. We can only fully relate to something that we recognize within ourselves. The moment we are made aware of a rustle in the bushes, of a whisper, of the possibility of another human, we freeze. Human interaction is the basis of everything we do and it rattles us down to our very being and self-understanding. Humans in art have the same effect, whether we like it or not, they are understandable only because of and up to the point that we understand ourselves." - Artweb
Why has the human figure had such a dedicated focus throughout art history and into modern day? Artists like to practice their skills by drawing what they see, what they have around them, and what will be conveyable to the most number of people. I practice my skills everyday by drawing and painting different subjects, from landscapes to still life to portraits so that I am able to progress with my techniques and styles. Using a range of subjects makes this practice easier in a way as it always forces you to look at what you are drawing.
Most subjects don't often have to be exactly correct to look like the object its meant to, landscapes and plants are particularly malleable. The human figure, however, has to be almost exact or it can quickly look very odd, and because we see so much of the world through a human lens we notice a misplaced hand far more than we would a misplaced leaf.
Practicing the human figure has been a central component to many of the best art curriculums from as far back as the very first art school set up by The Carracci in Bologna in the 1580s. If we are trained and well practiced in being able to see properly and draw exactly what we see then we should technically be able to, or at least adept at, drawing just about anything at all.
And, for anyone that needs a self-confidence boost, remember, no matter your shape, size, age, patterns, height, etc, we are all 'the human figure' therefore we are all art.