Our latest exhibition at The Lightbox explores the ways in which the human form has been represented in the art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Traditionally, the body in art was depicted as an idealised form – from the athletic male figures of Greek art, to the voluptuous women of the Renaissance, the figures were a reflection of the body shapes that people aspired to at the time. But in modern and contemporary art, the presentation of the human body has changed and developed to encompass all shapes, sizes, mediums and artistic styles, ranging from a photograph-like hyper-reality, to almost unrecognisable surreal forms. Bodies! will invite the viewer to consider their own reactions to the human body, as represented by eminent Modern British artists such as Henry Moore, Reg Butler, Elisabeth Frink and Allen Jones, as well as works by up-and-coming contemporary artists Miroslav Pomichal and BP Portrait Prize winner Aleah Chapin.
The Ingram Collection: Bodies! will be on show in the Main Gallery at The Lightbox from 21 November to 31 January 2016. A range of associated events will run alongside the exhibition, including a Life Drawing workshop, and an exhibition talk by Dr Ian Jenkins OBE, Senior Curator at the British Museum, and curator of the British Museum’s recent major exhibition, Defining Beauty: the Body in Ancient Greek Art.
Find out more here.