THEVOZ Michel.
The painted body.
The Contemporary Workshop
Regular price
€8,50
| N° d'inventaire | 29925 |
| Format | 11.5 x 16 |
| Détails | 192 p., illustrated, paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2023 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782850350962 |
Despite the absence of vestiges (the oldest preserved tattoos of mummified bodies date back to 3000 BC), several clues seem to support the idea that man took his own body as the first support for painting. Despite the richness and extraordinary variety of body decorations in all so-called "primitive" societies, it is possible to determine certain clearly distinct general functions: Body paintings, which have an ephemeral character, and which are associated with festivals, ceremonies, magical practices.
They take us into the realm of the sacred, that is, the ritual transgression of taboos. They also manifest psychic dispositions that, in Western culture, are repressed or affected by a psychotic character. The most lasting marks, by tattooing or scarification, which are equivalent to an inscription on the body of the cultural order of the community and the social situation of individuals.
With the invention of writing and the constitution of states, inscription is transferred from the body of individuals to a more anonymous skin: parchment. The body, while now intact, is nonetheless the object of retouching aimed at subjugating it to its own image: cosmetics, makeup, and aesthetic operations of all kinds. Seduction plays on the line between concealing and admitting these artifices.
However, the body mark is deliberately assumed in certain marginal areas: the tattooing of convicts, adventurers, prostitutes, the makeup of actors and clowns, the face painting of children, etc. The evolution of modern painting can be interpreted as the anti-illusionist reactivation of the epidermis of the canvas. In fact, at the end of this evolution, the body is once again assumed in its function as the original support of painting, notably in the movements of Body Art and Transvestism.
They take us into the realm of the sacred, that is, the ritual transgression of taboos. They also manifest psychic dispositions that, in Western culture, are repressed or affected by a psychotic character. The most lasting marks, by tattooing or scarification, which are equivalent to an inscription on the body of the cultural order of the community and the social situation of individuals.
With the invention of writing and the constitution of states, inscription is transferred from the body of individuals to a more anonymous skin: parchment. The body, while now intact, is nonetheless the object of retouching aimed at subjugating it to its own image: cosmetics, makeup, and aesthetic operations of all kinds. Seduction plays on the line between concealing and admitting these artifices.
However, the body mark is deliberately assumed in certain marginal areas: the tattooing of convicts, adventurers, prostitutes, the makeup of actors and clowns, the face painting of children, etc. The evolution of modern painting can be interpreted as the anti-illusionist reactivation of the epidermis of the canvas. In fact, at the end of this evolution, the body is once again assumed in its function as the original support of painting, notably in the movements of Body Art and Transvestism.
They take us into the realm of the sacred, that is, the ritual transgression of taboos. They also manifest psychic dispositions that, in Western culture, are repressed or affected by a psychotic character. The most lasting marks, by tattooing or scarification, which are equivalent to an inscription on the body of the cultural order of the community and the social situation of individuals.
With the invention of writing and the constitution of states, inscription is transferred from the body of individuals to a more anonymous skin: parchment. The body, while now intact, is nonetheless the object of retouching aimed at subjugating it to its own image: cosmetics, makeup, and aesthetic operations of all kinds. Seduction plays on the line between concealing and admitting these artifices.
However, the body mark is deliberately assumed in certain marginal areas: the tattooing of convicts, adventurers, prostitutes, the makeup of actors and clowns, the face painting of children, etc. The evolution of modern painting can be interpreted as the anti-illusionist reactivation of the epidermis of the canvas. In fact, at the end of this evolution, the body is once again assumed in its function as the original support of painting, notably in the movements of Body Art and Transvestism.