Human Beings: Artistic Challenge and Inspiration

Introduction

The world we live in has inspired artists to transform their perceptions of that world into images that we recognise as art. No where is this more evident than the artistic response to who we are our features, our shapes, our sexuality. The human form has been the catalyst for works of artistic genius throughout history. I propose to examine the evolution at least in part, of the study of the human form.

Although it is not the beginning of the story my initial focus on the art of the Renaissance, an artistic rebirth that truly can be described as the umbilical cord that connects the Middle Ages to the later 18th century. Inevitably, this chapter must focus on one the creators of the Renaissance, Michelangelo(1475-1564). Although Leonardo da Vinci would also be an obvious choice, I have chosen a genius of the later generation, Caravaggio(1571-1610). This is for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to investigate the dramatic impact of his artistic genius. And, secondly, his observations of the human state create a sense of realism that, somewhat belatedly, has been recognised as dramatic and natural.

Thereafter I propose to focus on the post-impressionist era and in pariticular Gauguin.

In the final chapter of the study, the artistic genius of Francis Bacon(1909-1992) and Jenny Saville (1920-) provide a dramatic contrast to the approach to the human form embraced by, for example, Michelangelo and Matisse. The contrast between Bacons distorted images of humans and Michelangelo could not be more acute. Similarity Jenny Savilles big Sue is far removed from the representations of the human form created by the Renaissance artists and the post impressionist era.