Anatomische foto van een vrouwelijk lijk: 'de vorm van de borstpartij in relatie tot het skelet' (Die Form der Brust in ihren Beziehungen zum Skelette] 1908

Giulio Chiarugi made this anatomical photograph of a female cadaver. I'm wondering whether the yellow skeleton has been painted on later, a painterly intervention. There’s a clinical quality to the photograph, but then you have this body, and the skeleton, which feels like it’s been added manually with paint, a gesture that makes me think of early anatomical illustrations. As a painter, you are always thinking about the body. The body you’re in, the body you’re making. Even abstract painting is connected to this visceral sense of being human. And I wonder about the ethics involved, the body of the artist, and the body on which they work. Chiarugi invites us to consider the relationship between flesh and bone, surface and structure. It reminds me of the work of artists like Jenny Saville who deal with the human form in all its fleshy, corporeal reality. These artists, through their own distinct styles, tap into something fundamental about our shared human experience.