1. HISTORY OF THE FIGURE IN ART

2. 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.

3. 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.

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

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

6. 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
year old paintings by the San people at Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg, South Africa

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

8. 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

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

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

11. 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.

12. Profile head
Forward facing torso
British Museum
Profile legs & feet

13. Queen Nefertiti

14. 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.

15. Storytelling on Ceramic Vases & Urns

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

17. Very realistic figure sculpture

18. Eyes were blank or hollow “Windows to the Soul”

19. Realistic looking drapery
“Contrapposto” Pose

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

21. Lack of Perspective

22. Old looking children

23. 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.

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

25. 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.

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

27. Raphael’s School of Athens

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

29. 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, , Museo del Prado

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

31. 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.

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

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

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

35. Battle of Monmouth, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1852,

36. 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.

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

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

39. The Harvest, Camille Pissarro, 1889, private collection

40. The Young Mother, Mary Cassatt, 1900

41. “The Doves” by Richard MacDonald

42. 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.

43. “Statue of Liberty” by Frederic Bartholdi

44. “Lincoln Memorial” by Daniel Chester French

45. “Iwo Jima” Memorial by Felix de Weldon

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

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

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