personal preference art :Human Form in Art

The human figure has always been a common subject of visual art. The earliest known representations of the human body come from Europe and date to between 25,000 and 12,000 years ago. Carved from stone and ivory, these ‘Venus’ figures represent the female form and may have been associated with fertility. Humans feature in other prehistoric art including the cave paintings of early Europe and in the rock paintings of southern Africa. Although there is no way of telling for certain, the production and meaning of art amongst these cultures was probably spiritual, the figures perhaps representing deities or ritually important people. By Ancient Egypt 5000 years ago it was becoming common for non-spiritual persons to be depicted and for the human form to feature in more secular contexts. However, figures and faces have also continued to be incorporated into ritual art, such as the Death’s Head sculptures of Aztec Mexico (top left). In almost all cultures around the world the human figure remains central to both spiritual and decorative art to the present day.

Classifying Human Figurative Art
Several cases in the Pitt Rivers Museum contain objects that are classified as ‘Human Form in Art’. When these displays were originally conceived in the late nineteenth century, the two main cabinets were entitled ‘Human Form in Savage and Tribal Art’ and ‘Human Form in Barbaric and Civilized Art’, the latter containing any examples of the art of Classical and Christian Europe. During this period non-European artefacts would have been considered inferior in taste, style, skill, and meaning to those created by Europeans. As depictions of the human form were generally physically and stylistically representative of the peoples who made them, the grouping of objects from particular parts of the world would have reinforced social and racial stereotypes that were prevalent at the time.

Current attitudes recognize the beauty and artistry in these objects and make the initial categories of classification obsolete. The objects are now all grouped together as ‘Human Form in Art’. They display enormous diversity in materials, techniques, function, beliefs, and notions of beauty. While people of a century or more ago would have viewed such figures and forms in a divisive way, they may now be seen to highlight the shared humanity of the cultures represented.

Material, Manufacture and Style
Many cultures represent human figures in object form, giving rise to objects that have been made using a huge variety of materials and manufacturing techniques. The earliest examples of figurative art were either carved from natural materials or produced on rock faces by painting using natural pigments such as red ochre and charcoal. These materials were most likely chosen because they were available locally. In later figurative art materials may have been chosen for many reasons including what best represented the attributes of the human body, the social rank of those creating the objects, or the importance of the person or deity being represented.
personal preference art


Pitt Rivers Museum, South Parks Road Oxford.