The Human Figure

The Human Figure using Form and Light

In the past hundred years the human figure like so may artistic subjects has provided a motif for experimentation by artists.  In the west, Cubists transformed the curving forms of humans into hard-edged,  interlocking geometric patterns; Expressionists distorted bodies, applied intense, non naturalistic colors, and used slashing brushstrokes for dramatic, emotional effects; Surrealists put the body into physically bizarre or psychologically suggestive situations.  The range of styles used body present day painters to depict the human figure is also vast.  Since the 1980s the human figure has emerges as a significant subject in the work of many artists associated with current ideas and trends such as Postmodernism and Multiculturalism.

• Dorothea Tanning, --  Family Portrait, 1954. Oil 39 3/8 x 31 7/8.

• Philip Pearlstein, Punch on a Ladder #3, 1996, oil 48 x 48".

• Dan Namingha, Emerging Kachinas,Acrylic, 76 x 60".

• Shahzia Sikander, Monsters Within, 1995, watercolor,15 1/2 x 11".

• Reginald Gammon, A Tryptych For A Black Church (MLK and the Mothers), 1967, Acrylic, 32 x 24".

• Roy Carruthers, The Rival, 1978. Oil 64 x 68".

• Brett Bigbee, Joe (Self-Portrait), 1989, oil 48 x 48".

Foreshortening

Foreshortening is the term for the condition of a form's appearance when its major axis projects in space at an angle to the picture plane.  The effect is due to the combined effect of two changes in the perceived size and shape of the form.  First, because the form's position is shifted so that it points at or away from the viewer- into or out of the picture plane- the form appears compacted - or shortened - from its  normal height or length. Secondly, and related to the first, the relative scale of the parts of the  form are altered because one end of the form is now observed diminished in size as it is seen receding into depth. 

Foreshortening contributes to the articulation of three-dimensionality in the volumes depicted and in turn, enhances the illusion of those volumes occupying deep space

• Lorraine Shemesh, Painted Pools, 1994, oil 67 1/2 x 81".
• http://www.lorraineshemesh.com/art/pools/CD2_15_B.jpg
• http://www.lorraineshemesh.com/art/pools/CD1_01_B.jpg
• http://www.lorraineshemesh.com/art/pools/CD1_98_B.jpg
• http://www.lorraineshemesh.com/art/pools/CD4_01_menu.jpg
• Mantegna, Andrea, The Lamentation over the Dead Christ,  1490.
• Mantegna, Andrea, Camera degli Sposi

To employ foreshortening, paint the parts of a figure or object which angle away from the picture plane shorter in proportion to those parts which remain parallel to the picture plane.

Light and the Figure

To create a sense of three-dimensional volume in the human figure a painter may strive to show them under a specific lighting condition.
• David Chung, Working drawing for Mega Morning Calm, 1993, Mixed media installation
• Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and the Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, 1625, oil.

  In Europe perhaps the grandest epoch of chiaroscuro occurred in the seventeenth century today called the Baroque period, when Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Velasquez and other painters created paintings with dramatic dark-and light structures. A single light source like a candle often depicts theatrical lighting for paintings.

• Dan McCleary, http://www.peterblakegallery.com/livepics/danmccleary/pb_artist_danmccleary_1.htm  
• Alette Simmons-Jimmenez, http://www.askart.com/photos/others/117098.jpg

Holly Roberts

• http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~artarch/womenartists/Contemporary/Roberts/1993.17.2NDimage.jpg
• http://fotomuveszet.elender.hu/0034/nagykepek/jpg_kepek_003407/00340703.jpg
• Zhang Xiaogang, Bloodline: The Big Family No.2, 1995
• http://www.artactif.com/indexX/xiaogang.jpg

Romare Bearden

• http://www.hofstra.edu/images/museum_collection_86_132.jpg
• http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/ethnicstudies/africanamerican/images/Romare_Bearden.jpg
• http://www.fwmoa.org/images/Romare-Bearden-The-Magic-Ga.gif
• http://www.marin.cc.ca.us/art107/BeardenFolkMusicians.jpg

  Expanded Forms and Ideas

  "There is no reason not to consider the world one gigantic painting".

  -Robert Rauschenberg

  Before easel paintings, or portable paintings many paintings were made directly on walls and ceilings and were immovable. In fact, painting on various shapes not only predates easel paintings but varies widely around the world.  Examples include Paleolithic cave paintings, folded screens and scrolls in ancient China and Japan, papyrus scrolls in ancient Egypt, murals painted on walls, wooden altarpieces, painted masks, illuminated manuscripts and painted folk art.

• Janine Antoni, Loving Care, 1993.  The artist soaked her hair in hair dyed and mopped the floor with it. Performance at Anthonly D'Offay Gallery, London.
• Hung Liu, Dry Days, 2004, Oil on canvas, wood insert, 66 x 66 inches.
• Hung Liu, Manchu Man, 2004, Oil on canvas, wood insert, 66 x 66 inches.
• HUNG LIU, American, b. China, 1948, Apple Shrine, 1993, oil on canvas, painted wood, marble apple, 71 1/2 x 80 x 3 inches.

• Hung Liu, Judgement of Paris, 1992, Oil on canvas with lacquered wood, 72 x 96 x 4 3/4.

• Elizabeth Murray, Careless Love, Oil on Shaped Canvas, 1996-94.
• Elizabeth Murray, Oil on Shaped Canvas.
• Elizabeth Murray, Oil on Shaped Canvas.
• Jane Hammond, Feet
  • Keeping the Orphan 1997
• Tom Judd, Venus de Milo, Oil on Collage on Board,40 X 36".2004.
• Jean-Michel Basquiat, Flexible, 1984, Acrylic and oilstick on Wood.