Perception of human body in contemporary British figurative painting: Francis Bacon, Jenny Saville, Lucien Freud

The theme of body has existed throughout the history of figurative painting and has always maintained its popularity. Throughout the centuries, the body was depicted with various styles and played a leading role in the development of the art of painting. However, since the mid-20th century, the visibility of the body in painting has diminished and began to lose its appeal. The reason is the arise of different forms of expression; such as abstract painting, conceptual art, the art of installation. Also, bodytheme has frequently consumed in visual arts. This situation caused the figurative art perceived as old-fashioned, and it also demanded a modern understanding of the body in contemporary and innovative perspective. This study aims to discuss the contemporary interpretation of the body theme with the Works of Bacon, Freud and Saville and their perception of the body image. In this context, the thesis is determined as three main sections. In the first part, yhe bodies depicted by Bacon are discussed as an existentialist approach and in the following part, the theme of violence which are familliar with in his paintings has been tried to be approached from a differnt perspective on the relation of power. In the second part, through the naked bodies of Lucian Freud, it was pointed out that the body image described by perception of death, life, memory, time, and nudity. In the third part, the art of Jenny Saville, which can be considered as a kind of heir of these two masters, was mentioned. In this last part, the comparison of the old and modern body perception, the problematic of the present day female body representation and the pictorial sensation of the body in relation to the organic nature of meat and skin have been tried to be expressed.