HISTORY OF THE FIGURE IN ART

The representation of the figure in art changes as human needs and artistic expression evolved. Early figure images served only communication and religious purposes. Later, portraits captured images of the living. After the invention of the camera, figure art became highly creative and expressive. All images in the powerpoint presentation are either in the public domain, are available under the GNU licensing agreement or have been reproduced and made available under the Yorke project. All other images which are not in the public domain or have copyright restrictions have been listed with a url link to an image.

Throughout history, figures are represented as drawings, paintings, and sculpture. Sculpture achieved a realistic appearance before drawings and paintings of figures. However, drawing and painting used modern art styles to illustrate the figure before sculpture.

PREHISTORIC FIGURES Line drawings of figures, similar to “stick figures.” Told stories and communicated before written language.

Rock painting of 3 men performing a ritual dance, Tamunshede, Bohuslan, Sweden Aboriginal Rock Art, Ubirr Art Site, Kakadu National Park, Australia

Prehistoric rock art found in the Sierra de San Francisco region of Baja California, Mexico, created by a people referred to as Cochimi or Guachimis. The paintings date from 1100 BC to AD 1300 petroglyphs at Una Vida site at Chaco National Historic site 3. 3000 year old paintings by the San people at Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg, South Africa

PRE-COLUMBIAN FIGURES Figures were mostly stylized sculptures. Represented gods and other deities for worship and ceremonies.

Painted ceramic cinerary urn representing a sitting person Painted ceramic cinerary urn representing a sitting person. Zapotec Culture (Monte Albán III phase), Early Classic and Middle Classic Periods (100–700 CE). Mexico. Nayarit culture, Museum of Architecture, France Teotihuacan culture. Museum of Architecture, France

Moche Portrait Vase 400A D Larco Museum Collection Chancay sculpture, pre-Inca culture, Peru Museum of Architecture

Figure Drawings on a Codex Codex Mendoza, depicting the founding of Tenochtitlan.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FIGURES Figure drawings were flat looking, with heads and feet in profile, while the body faced forward. Most important figures were shown larger than others.

Profile head Forward facing torso British Museum Profile legs & feet

Queen Nefertiti

ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN FIGURES Figures were often used in storytelling, especially mythology. Drawings were still flat looking, but sculptures were very realistic. Figure sculptures showed the classical “contraposto” pose and realistic looking drapery.

Storytelling on Ceramic Vases & Urns

Figures from Mythology Zeus on his throne Zeus with thunderbolt and dove Zeus settling a dispute

Very realistic figure sculpture

Eyes were blank or hollow “Windows to the Soul”

Realistic looking drapery “Contrapposto” Pose

MIDDLE AGES FIGURES Figures were beginning to develop a little more in form. Used in picturing religious and medieval scenes.

Lack of Perspective

Old looking children

Mosaics & Tapestries The Bayeux Tapestry, chronicling the English/Norman battle in 1066 which led to the Norman Conquest. Strictly speaking it is not a tapestry but an embroidery since it is stitched, not woven into the fabric.

Illuminated Manuscripts Christ in Majesty, Aberdeen Bestiary The illuminated letter P in the Malmesbury Bible

RENAISSANCE FIGURES With the discovery of perspective, figures had more realistic form. Figures continued in religious depictions, but also became popular as portraits of the clergy and wealthy patrons. In time, portraiture grew to include the middle class.

Christ Handing the Keys to St Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter by Pietro Perugino (1481-82) Fresco, 335 x 550 cm Cappella Sistina, Vatican

Raphael’s School of Athens

Death of St. Sebastian by Giovanni Bellini, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venezia, Italy

Albert VII, Archduke of Austria and Marie de Medici Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, Peter Paul Rubens, 1615 – 1632, Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo Marie de Medici, Peter Paul Rubens, 1622-1625, Museo del Prado

Children became younger looking The Artist’s Family, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1528.

18TH CENTURY FIGURES Portraiture continued to be popular, sometimes including land, house, pet, or other prized possession. Figure painting also provided entertainment or delivered a message.

“Robert Andrews and His Wife” by Thomas Gainsborough Robert Andrews and his Wife, Thomas Gainsborough, 1748 – 1750, National Gallery London

Children now looked like their appropriate young age Two Daughters with a Cat, Thomas Gainsborough, 1759

Watson and the Shark, John Singleton Copley, 1778, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Battle of Monmouth, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1852,

19TH CENTURY FIGURES The invention of the camera had a profound effect on figures in art, especially portraiture. Artists began painting “genre” (figures in everyday life situations). Figure painting and sculpture changed from realistic to more impressionistic styles.

Croquet Players, Winslow Homer, 1865, Albright-Knox Gallery

The Luncheon Boating Party, Auguste Renoir, 1881, Phillips Collection

The Harvest, Camille Pissarro, 1889, private collection

The Young Mother, Mary Cassatt, 1900

“The Doves” by Richard MacDonald

20TH CENTURY FIGURES Monuments were made to immortalize prominent figures in history. A wide variety of art styles create figures that are abstract, expressionistic, or realistic. Expensive portraits are usually only painted because of prestige.

“Statue of Liberty” by Frederic Bartholdi

“Lincoln Memorial” by Daniel Chester French

“Iwo Jima” Memorial by Felix de Weldon

“Unique Forms of Continuity” by Umberto Boccioni, 1913, Museum of Modern Art

Reclining Figure, Henry Moore, 1951, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Le chant de voyelles, Jacques Lipchitz, 1931 – 2, The Netherlands