Figure Painting
History of Figurative Art: Representation of Human Body.
Visual Arts

Figure Painting

The imprecise term 'figure painting' usually describes one of two things. It may refer to the representation of human figures in painting or drawing, or, it may refer to figurative as opposed to abstract art.

Life Drawing: the Basis of Figure Painting

Life drawing is the classical method of learning how to draw, which appears in the curriculum of most fine art schools. Students study and draw the body of a live model, typically nude and positioned on a raised platform. Most art experts consider this to be the truest and most authentic way of learning how to depict the three-dimensional shape and contours of the human body, and it is no surprise that most of the greatest figure painters were academy-trained.

Students may use a variety of mediums, including pencil, charcoal, crayon, chalks, pastels, pen and ink etc. Occasionally, students may complete their life studies in paint. During the 1900s, Dublin Metropolitan School of Art ran its first life class, taught by the academic portraitist and artist William Orpen.

Human Figures in Paintings

There is no specific category of 'figure painting'. In terms of subject matter, painting genres are limited to: history paintings, landscapes, portraits, genre scenes (ordinary daily situations), and still lifes, of which all but the last may contain human figures. Indeed, the history of art is full of famous artists whose main focus was on painting the human form.

Paintings of human forms are classified as representational art, although they may also be known as 'figurative art'. Contemporary expressionist versions are also called 'neo-figurative art'.

Great Figure Painters of the Renaissance

Most early and high Renaissance artists mastered the technique of figure painting. For example, Leonardo da Vinci's detailed knowledge of anatomy, his skill at representing human physiognomy, and how expressions and gestures reflect emotion, and his use of sfumato to create subtle shading, are all reflected in his most famous figure paintings: the Last Supper, the Virgin of the Rocks and the Mona Lisa (1503-5).

Michelangelo was responsible for possibly the most spectacular and influential of all figure paintings in the history of art - the biblical images on the ceiling and altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The ceiling fresco alone comprised over 300 figures.

Modern Figure Painting

Edouard Manet, the French Impressionist artist was one of the great modern figure painters. His subjects included: prostitutes, drinkers, beggars and singers, as well as the Parisian bourgeoisie. Among his famous figure paintings is Olympia (1863). Manet's artistic influence on his contemporaries such as Paul Gauguin, and Paul Cezanne was profound, as it was on later artists like Pablo Picasso.

Edgar Degas, the French Impressionist artist and talented draughtsman, was another master of the painted human form. Himself a student of Michelangelo's and Manet's works, and a keen photographer, his paintings include a wide array of ballet dancers, portraits of friends, ordinary Parisian women and female nudes. He became especially interested in how a person's physiognomy, posture, dress, and other attributes, reveal their social status or occupation. Among his many virtuoso figure paintings, are: Dancers at The Bar (1888), and Woman in the Bath (1886).

20th Century Figure Painting

Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was perhaps the first truly outstanding figure-painter of the century. Lucian Freud, the German-born British artist, grandson of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is another of the great modern figure painters. Indeed, his main subject is the human body, usually depicted nude in contrived positions. Rarely exhibited, his canvases featuring the human body include masterpieces like: Naked Man With Rat (1977); Naked Girl With Egg (1980); Bella (1982); and Painter and Model (1986).

Photo-Realism

The latest word on figure painting, photo-realism is a modern art movement led by American artist Richard Estes (b.1932) and Chuck Close. Photo-realist painters create paintings that resemble colour photographs but are in fact meticulously executed paintings. Their portrait art and figure paintings are amazingly life-like.

• For more information about classical painting and sculpture, see: Guide to Irish Fine Art.

• How to Update This Mini Review of Figure Painting.

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