The novelist, Virginia Woolf once made an observation that literature has ‘done its best to maintain that its concern is with the mind; that the body is a sheet of plain glass through which the soul looks straight and clear.'
Similarly, the visual art - whether academic conventions or the study of the ideal - tends to focus on interpretation of the mind rather than the body. The human body is used merely as a vehicle to convey the deeper spiritual meanings, inner thoughts or emotions of the artist. This virtual exhibition brings together a group of works by the artists who explore this conflict between the mind and the body that is both deeply personal and universal to challenge our perception of the human body.
Red Landscape with Figures 1964
John Keith Vaughan (1912–1977)
Oil on canvas
H 122.2 x W 91.8 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Falling from Grace 1991
Gwen Hardie (b.1962)
Oil on canvas
H 200 x W 200 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Restraining Coat II (Female) 1995
Julie Roberts (b.1963)
Oil & acrylic on canvas
H 152.4 x W 152.4 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Cherries, Forbidden Fruit and Pear in a Landscape 1991
Alison Watt (b.1965)
Oil on canvas
H 152 x W 60.6 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Pope I (Study after Pope Innocent X by Diego Velázquez) 1951
Francis Bacon (1909–1992)
Oil on canvas
H 197.8 x W 137.4 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
J. Y. M. Seated 1976
Frank Helmuth Auerbach (b.1931)
Oil on board
H 50.8 x W 45.8 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
The Green Chemise c.1931
Matthew Arnold Bracy Smith (1879–1959)
Oil on canvas
H 72.4 x W 92.4 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Woman with a Cat 1944
Jankel Adler (1895–1949)
Oil on canvas
H 112.2 x W 87.4 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Reclining Nude (II) 1955
William Brooker (1918–1983)
Oil on canvas
H 63.3 x W 76.2 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
An Angel Ascending to Heaven 1969 & 1983–1989
Angus Menmuir Neil (1924–1992)
Oil on board
H 118.4 x W 118.6 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Woman in Green 1949
Robert Colquhoun (1914–1962)
Oil on canvas
H 101.3 x W 51.4 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Untitled 1992
Christopher Le Brun (b.1951)
Oil on canvas
H 160.2 x W 190.2 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Serb and Muslim 1994
Peter Howson (b.1958)
Oil on canvas
H 213.5 x W 152.5 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Group of Figures 1968
John Keith Vaughan (1912–1977)
Oil on canvas
H 101.5 x W 91.4 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Threnody c.1970
Robin Philipson (1916–1992)
Oil on hand-collaged paper on canvas
H 185.5 x W 138.8 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
The Blue Petticoat c.1912
Spencer Gore (1878–1914)
Oil on canvas
H 35.3 x W 30.1 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Woman Unknown to Herself 1993–1994
Lilian Strang Neilson (1938–1998)
Oil on hardboard
H 122.5 x W 244.7 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Triple Goddess 1989
Arlene Isbister (b.1966)
Waxed acrylic on canvas
H 244 x W 120 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
One of the Stations of the Dead 1933–1937
Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
Oil on canvas
H 127.6 x W 75.8 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Evening Star c.1940–1944
James Cowie (1886–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 137.5 x W 133.4 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Seated Girl Holding a Piece of Sewing 1915–1925
Gwen John (1876–1939)
Oil on canvas
H 41 x W 33 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Irish Girl c.1940
Victor Pasmore (1908–1998)
Oil on canvas
H 61.4 x W 51 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Hermann Gross (1904–1988)
Sterling silver
H 37 x W 20 x D 37 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Head of a Young Girl 1975
Stephen Buckley (b.1944)
Enamel over acrylic on canvas
H 208.2 x W 170.1 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
A Girl's Head 1925
Clara Klinghoffer (1900–1970)
Oil on canvas
H 45.4 x W 41.1 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Portrait Head 1965
Angus Menmuir Neil (1924–1992)
Oil on board
H 51.2 x W 41 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Stretching 1963
Bernard Dunstan (1920–2017)
Oil on canvas
H 61 x W 51 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Seated Nude 1940
William Scott (1913–1989)
Oil on canvas
H 61 x W 50.9 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Position de quatrième devant sur la jambe gauche 1882–1895
Edgar Degas (1834–1917)
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Les trois belles 1950
Ossip Zadkine (1890–1967)
Brass
H 78.5 x W 34.5 x D 18 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Explore artists in this Curation
View all 28-
Jankel Adler (1895–1949) -
Lilian Strang Neilson (1938–1998) -
Arlene Isbister (b.1966) -
James Cowie (1886–1956) -
Julie Roberts (b.1963) -
Bernard Dunstan (1920–2017) -
Peter Howson (b.1958) -
Victor Pasmore (1908–1998) -
Alison Watt (b.1965) -
Gwen Hardie (b.1962) - View all 28