Beauty, sex and the body’s limits explored in new Phaidon art book

A weighty new title from Phaidon claims to be one of the most thorough, in-depth books looking at the body in art ever to be published. Body of Art takes on 35 millennia of representing the human form, from the figurative to the abstract to the conceptual. Featuring work by over 400 artists, including Marina Abramović, Matisse and Tracey Emin, the cloth-bound book draws parallels and contrasts between world cultures.

Its themed chapters tackle subjects like beauty, sex and the body’s limits, the latter of which pairs paintings like Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear from 1889 with performance artist Stelarc’s visceral Ear on Arm from 2006. Elsewhere Ai Weiei sits alongside Eugene Delacroix and Antony Gormley next to Joseph Beuys. These considered pairings, from different periods and parts of the world, juxtapose every medium and introduce less well-known works of art while allowing readers to see familiar ones in new lights.

Body of Art is out on Phaidon now.