Best known as part of the influential vanguard of Impressionist artists that experimented with new painting techniques in the late 19th century, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was deeply inspired by classical traditions and returned again and again to the canonical subject of the nude. Tracing the entire arc of Renoir's career, this volume examines the different approaches the artist employed in his various depictions of the subject-from his works...

"Body of Art is the first book to explore the various ways the human body has been both an inspiration and a medium for artists over hundreds of thousands of years. Unprecedented in its scope, it examines the many different manifestations of the body in art, from Anthony Gormley and Maya Lin sculptures to eight-armed Hindu gods and ancient Greek reliefs, from feminist graphics and Warhol's empty electric chair to the blue-tinted complexion of Singer...