Human Figure Research Articles

Evoking the Past: The Ning Mao Sarcophagus and Images of the Deceased in Early Medieval China

This paper examines the multifarious functions of images of the deceased (muzhu xiang 墓主像) during the late Northern Wei period (494–534). It focuses on a series of human figures engraved on the Ning Mao sarcophagus, a house-shaped stone coffin constructed ca. 527 and discovered near Luoyang in 1931. By comparing these images with those found on other contemporary sarcophagi from Luoyang, this paper posits that they exemplify two principal approaches to representing the deceased in the Northern Wei dynasty. The first approach alludes to the presence of Ning Mao and his wife through parental figures in didactic narrative scenes, which subsequently serve as stand-in images for the deceased couple. The second approach is embodied in the three gentlemanly figures on the back wall of the sarcophagus; these idealized images encapsulate the political, spiritual, and cultural pursuits of native Chinese elites. Both the stand-in and idealized images of the deceased on the Ning Mao sarcophagus are employed to connect the past with the present, an aspect intrinsically tied to the performance of filial piety in early medieval China.

THE ‘SWORD BEARERS’: WOMEN BEARING SWORDS? RETHINKING A GROUP OF FIGURES IN MYCENAEAN PICTORIAL VASE PAINTING

This paper focuses on a particular group of human figures attested on a number of Late Helladic (LH) IIIA2–B1 pictorial kraters which show specific attributes: they have long hair, wear an elaborate cloak-like robe and bear a sword on their chest. Furthermore, they appear in clearly peaceful representations like chariot or processional scenes. These accurately rendered ‘Sword Bearers’ have so far been assumed to be of male sex due to the presence of the sword; the interpretation proposed here, that they are women, is based on the presence of distinctive female traits as also found on female representations on pictorial vessels and other media of the same period. Particularly striking is the similarity with the enigmatic ‘Sword Bearer’ from the Cult Centre of Mycenae, who is the sole contemporary model of a female figure with a sword wrapped in a long cloak. Though not postulating that these figures are female warriors, attention will be drawn to the fact that weapons have a strong association to the female imagery as well to the sphere of ritual – a sphere in which women played, as is well known, a predominant role in Aegean culture.

Analysis of Calculated Ease Values in Semi-Fitted Bodice Blocks Considering Quasi-Static Poses

This paper addresses clothing misfit issues primarily caused by incorrect applications of ease values. In pattern drafting, ease values are added to body measurements by distributing them at relevant construction levels. However, these ease values have been explained differently in books published by subject experts. Most published pattern drafting methods instruct taking body measurements and constructing blocks with considering only the relaxed state of the human figure. However, no studies have yet considered the calculation of ease values in relation to different body poses. Moreover, while the calculated ease values are accurate for the relaxed state, they do not correctly account for different body poses. Therefore, this study presents effective ease values for semi-fitted bodice blocks considering the quasi-static body poses of the wearer. Five reliable pattern drafting methods relevant to semi-fitted women’s wear were evaluated. Accordingly, 2D CAD patterns were drafted according to UK size 12 standard form measurements and fit was assessed both physically and digitally to examine the adequacy of ease values in relation to clothing fit. Inconsistencies of ease values were found across all the selected pattern drafting methods resulting in various fit issues and discomfort in functionality. The proposed ease values will serve as a practical guide to producing clothing that maximises efficiency and productivity.

Accurate crowd counting for intelligent video surveillance systems

The paper presents a novel deep learning approach for crowd counting in intelligent video surveillance systems, addressing the growing need for accurate monitoring of public spaces in urban environments. The demand for precise crowd estimation arises from challenges related to security, public safety, and efficiency in urban areas, particularly during large public events. Existing crowd counting techniques, including feature-based object detection and regression-based methods, face limitations in high-density environments due to occlusions, lighting variations, and diverse human figures. To overcome these challenges, the authors propose a new deep encoder-decoder architecture based on VGG16, which incorporates hierarchical feature extraction with spatial and channel attention mechanisms. This architecture enhances the model’s ability to manage variations in crowd density, leveraging adaptive pooling and dilated convolutions to extract meaningful features from dense crowds. The model’s decoder is further refined to handle sparse and crowded scenes through separate density maps, improving its adaptability and accuracy. Evaluations of the proposed model on benchmark datasets, including Shanghai Tech and UCF CC 50, demonstrate superior performance over state-of-the-art methods, with significant improvements in mean absolute error and mean squared error metrics. The paper emphasizes the importance of addressing environmental variability and scale differences in crowded environments and shows that the proposed model is effective in both sparse and dense crowd conditions. This research contributes to the advancement of intelligent video surveillance systems by providing a more accurate and efficient method for crowd counting, with potential applications in public safety, transportation management, and urban planning.

Community as Gesamtkunstwerk: Dick Ket’s Self-Portraiture and the Debt of Epic Film

Abstract This essay posits that Weimar-era film sets—in their evocation of Richard Wagner’s concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk—served as a previously unseen visual source for painters that in some cases pushed back against interwar aesthetics of power. Focusing on the Dutch figurative painter Dick Ket, it investigates the ways in which this artist’s self-portraits from 1930–1940 acted as a memory index of his experience of the mises-en-scènes in Fritz Lang’s 1924 epic two-part film Die Nibelungs through Langian devices such as heavy geometric patterning, leitmotifs and subjugation of the human figure to the set. Ket’s work evinces the artist’s own sensation of confinement in his parents’ home as a result of a terminal heart condition while also reckoning with Adolf Hitler’s extremist rhetoric and expansionist policies in the years that preceded the German Occupation of the Netherlands.

HOPE IN CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY: THE PORTRAIT OF SELLERS OF GOODS AND SERVICES DURING A PANDEMIC

It has been more than 2 years since the covid-19 pandemic struck the world, affecting many aspects ranging from economics to education. As time went on, new habits began to be implemented in people's daily activities, or what is known as the New Normal, such as the obligation to wear masks and wash hands during activities. Departing from here, there is a feeling of longing that arises when communicating and interacting with the community. The mandatory use of masks during the New Normal era makes it difficult to guess the expressions or facial expressions of the other person. The media, which is rife with reports about the spread of covid-19, is also a factor that makes people wary of one another, which makes caring for others not like it used to be. In this case, the worker makes the seller of goods and services an object of work, which is the party that has been negatively affected by the covid-19 pandemic in the economic sector. Portrait photography is a representation of the similarity of human figures in a two-dimensional form. Portrait photography provides a personal indication of both the portrait owner and the portrait subject. Portrait photography is used as a media approach in the cultivation of works for sellers of goods and services in Bukittinggi. With the medium of portrait photography, it brings the artist closer and lets him know how life and problems are felt by sellers of goods and services in Bukittinggi, which are then presented in the form of contemporary photography works. Contemporary photography is part of art photography that is influenced by modernization and is not bound by conventional rules.

Influence of appearance and motion interaction on emotional state attribution to objects: The example of hugging shimeji mushrooms

Feeling that a non-human object has emotions (hereinafter referred to as emotional state attribution) is generally known as animacy perception. Previous studies have considered appearance and motion separately as factors that evoke emotional state attribution. Then, if both the degree of human likeness in shape and the presence or absence of motion are considered simultaneously, is there a possibility of strong emotional state attribution even for objects that are not human-like in terms of shape? In this study, we experimentally investigated the influence of human likeness in shape and movements evoking social relations on emotional state attribution, including their interaction, using three types of objects (human figure, shimeji mushroom, and match) that were assumed to differ from humans in terms of shape. We conducted three experiments. In Experiment 1, although the human figure was rated as more human-like than the shimeji mushroom in terms of shape, emotions were attributed more strongly to the shimeji mushroom than to the human figure when accompanied by movements that evoked social relationships. In Experiment 2, a follow-up to Experiment 1 was conducted by eliminating the influence of three-dimensionality, and similar results to Experiment 1 were obtained. In Experiment 3, the influence of face parts was examined, and emotions were attributed more strongly when motion was given to an object without face parts. The results suggest that people may attribute emotions more strongly to faceless objects that resemble humans only to a certain extent in shape when they show movements that evoke social relations.

Imaginações geográficas e a descentralização da figura humana nas paisagens do cinema contemporâneo

This study seeks to acknowledge the forms of destabilization of the geographic space and the decentralization of the human figure in the landscapes of contemporary cinema. This study focuses on the films Meek’s cutoff (2010) by Kelly Reichardt, Jauja (2014) by Lisandro Alonso, and Il buco (2021) by Michelangelo Frammartino, representatives of a spatial reiteration that crosses contemporary cinema. First, we focus on the concept of “geographical imaginations” by Ângela Prysthon. Then, we address the concept of the figure by the theory of image and with how some ways to address this figuration can lead to a decentralization of the human in relation to space.

The Meaning And Function Of Rerajahan In The Religious Life Of The Balinese Hindu Community

This abstract provides an overview of rerajahan, a form of sacred symbolism prominent in Bali, often referred to as the Island of the Gods. Rerajahan consists of small cloth pieces adorned with intricate images and inscriptions, such as human figures, mythical creatures, and sacred motifs, displayed on structures like homes and shrines. These symbols, embodying both artistic and spiritual dimensions, serve to invoke blessings and protection, reflecting the deep cultural and spiritual practices of the Balinese community. The term "rerajahan" originates from "rajah," indicating an inscription or image with mystical power. In Balinese Hinduism, rerajahan is classified into two types: "rerajahan pengiwa" (left-hand path) and "rerajahan penengen" (right-hand path), each with distinct spiritual roles. These symbols are not mere decorations but require specific rituals, known as "pasupati," to activate their spiritual efficacy. The process of creating and activating rerajahan integrates sacred scripts, such as Modré, with symbolic imagery to harness their magical properties. Rerajahan plays diverse roles in Balinese rituals and daily life, including protection, healing, and enhancing spiritual well-being. It features prominently in religious ceremonies like the Panca Yadnya rituals and is used in offerings and personal amulets. The complex Balinese script and careful selection of media for rerajahan highlight its cultural and religious significance. Whether depicted on cloth, metal, or other materials, rerajahan represents a profound connection to the divine, underscoring its importance in both sacred and everyday contexts within Balinese Hinduism.

Advancing human pose estimation with transformer models: An experimental approach

This paper explores the integration of Transformer architectures into human pose estimation, a critical task in computer vision that involves detecting human figures and predicting their poses by identifying body joint positions. With applications ranging from enhancing interactive gaming experiences to advancing biomechanical analyses, human pose estimation demands high accuracy and flexibility, particularly in dynamic and partially occluded scenes. This study hypothesizes that Transformers, renowned for their ability to manage long-range dependencies and focus on relevant data parts through self-attention mechanisms, can significantly outperform existing deep learning methods such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). We introduce the PoseTransformer, a hybrid model that combines the precise feature extraction capabilities of CNNs with the global contextual awareness of Transformers, aiming to set new standards for accuracy and adaptability in pose estimation tasks. The model's effectiveness is demonstrated through rigorous testing on benchmark datasets, showing substantial improvements over traditional approaches, especially in complex scenarios.

Human object interaction detection in paintings using multi-task learning

Human Object Interaction (HOI) detection can provide valuable insights into the meaning and interpretation of a painting, as the interactions between humans and objects can reveal information about the scene, characters, and story depicted in the artwork. Automatically detecting HOI in paintings is a challenging task, as the paintings often contain complex scenes with intricate details and variations in artistic style. Additionally, unlike in real-world images, the context and physics of the painting may not follow physical rules, which can further complicate the detection process. This paper proposes a novel system for detecting HOIs in paintings using multi-task learning. The system utilizes an object detection model to detect instances of human figures and objects, and extracts from them visual and spatial features. The appearance features are then combined to produce an optimized model for detecting HOIs. In order to enhance our model's performance on HOI detection, we train it in a multi-task learning setting with four different tasks. This approach allows us to leverage shared representations across multiple tasks, leading to improved accuracy and efficiency of HOI detection in our system. To train and test our model, we introduce a new benchmark for HOI detection in paintings, by augmenting the existing SemArt dataset with instance detection annotations and interaction classes and call it SemArt-HOI. Through our experiments, we show that our model is able to outperform the state-of-the-art one-stage transformer-based HOI detection model in both single-task and multi-task settings. Furthermore, our system's superior efficiency, training four times faster than the state-of-the-art model and using fewer resources, makes it ideal for practical and large-scale HOI detection in paintings.

‘Bodhisattva Bodies’: Early Twentieth Century Indian Influences on Modern Japanese Buddhist Art

The first decade of the twentieth century marked a turning point for Japanese Buddhism. With the introduction of Western academia, Buddhist scholars began to uncover the history of Buddhism, and through their efforts, they discovered India as the birthplace of Buddhism. As India began to grow in importance for Japanese Buddhist circles, one unexpected area to receive the most influence was Japanese Buddhist art, especially in the representation of human figures. Some artists began to insert Indian female figures into their art, not only to add a sense of exoticism but also to experiment with novel iconographies that might modernize Buddhist art. One example included the combination of Indian and Japanese female traits to create a culturally fluid figure that highlighted the cultural connection between Japan and India. Other artists were more attracted to “Indianizing” the Buddha in paintings to create more historically authentic art, drawing references from both Indian art and observations of local people. In this paper, I highlight how developments in Buddhist studies in Japan led to a re-establishment of Indo–Japanese relationships. Furthermore, I examine how the attraction towards India for Japanese artists motivated them to travel abroad and seek inspiration to modernize Buddhist art in Japan.

A cross-cultural study of children's graphic representations of men- and women-dominated occupations.

Occupational gender stereotypes develop from early age and contribute to occupational gender imbalance. Previous research used questionnaires or interviews to investigate children's explicit stereotypes and where drawings have been used, mostly men-dominated occupations have been considered. This study used drawings and interviews to assess implicit stereotypes of both men and women-dominated occupations and whether children's sex, age and cultural background predicted these stereotypes. Two hundred and forty-three 6-to-7-year-olds and 10-to-11-year-olds in Britain and Argentina-encompassing both Global South and Global North perspectives- drew five human figures: (i) person of their choice, (ii) dancer, (iii) nanny (iv) firefighter and (v) pilot. In interviews, children confirmed and justified their gender choices for each drawing. Results indicate gender stereotypes in children from both countries, especially towards women-dominated occupations. Girls exhibited more rigid gender views than boys. These findings suggest widespread and culturally consistent occupational gender stereotypes, potentially limiting children's future job choices.

Every Wholly Other: Postsecular Pluralism in Isabel Rocamora'sFaith

In this article, I undertake a close reading of Isabel Rocamora's 2015 film installation Faith, which shows, on three separate screens, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim men simultaneously performing their morning prayers in three distinct, historically significant sites in the Judean desert. Setting the cinematic and installation properties of the work into dialogue with a number of philosophers (Levinas, Derrida, Cavell), film theorists (Bazin, Deleuze, Chion), and art theorists (Fried, Elkins), I argue that it adopts a postsecular approach to religious pluralism. That is, without being a religious artwork, Faith nevertheless deconstructs the conventional liberal secular approach of universalist neutrality towards inter-religious relations and instead configures the relations between the human figures in the work according to an alterity that requires not cognitive certainty but inter-human faith. The work is thereby consistent with Derrida's notion that tout autre est tout autre (every other is wholly other).

K-Means Cluster for Grouping Regencies/Cities in South Sulawesi Province Based Human Development Index on the 2023

The grouping of districts/cities in South Sulawesi province should be carried out as a material for planning and evaluating government program objectives. The aim is to increase human development figures based on the indicators that form the HDI including Life Expectancy (UHH) at birth, Expected Years of Schooling (HLS), Average Years of Schooling (RLS). Therefore, cluster analysis was used using the K-means method, which is a type of statistical analysis. This type of research is applied research with a quantitative approach by collecting and analyzing data using the K-Means Cluster method. The data used in the determination was sourced from the South Sulawesi Provincial Central Statistics Agency in 2023. The results of grouping using K-Means clusters showed that there were 3 clusters, where cluster 1 had 23 regencies/cities in the Southern Province consisting of the Selayar Islands, Bantaeng, Jeneponto, Takalar, Sinjai, Maros, Pangkep, Barru, Bone, Soppeng, Wajo, Luwu and North Luwu with low criteria. Cluster 2 has 3 regencies/cities, namely Makassar, Pare Pare and Palopo with high criteria. Cluster 3 has 8 regencies/cities, namely Bulukumba, Gowa, Sidrap, Pinrang, Enrekang, Tana Toraja, East Luwu and North Toraja with medium criteria. The suggestion in this research is that you can use indices and other methods to group districts/cities in South Sulawesi Province.

"Build Your Village"-Conducting the Village Test on Cognitively Impaired Patients: A First Journey into Alzheimerland.

This work aimed to study the Village Test (VT) in a group of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and compare the results with those of a group of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and controls. A total of 50 patients with AD, 28 patients with MCI, and 38 controls were evaluated. All participants underwent the VT and an extensive neuropsychological evaluation. The mean ages of the participants were 74.4 years for those with AD, 74 for those with MCI, and 70.2 for the controls. The AD group built smaller and essential villages with a scarce use of pieces, a poor use of dynamic pieces, and scarce use of human figures. All constructions were often concentrated in the center of the table. The villages built by the AD group represent a cognitive and affective coarctation and indicate a sense of existential disorientation and isolation. The VT is a useful aid for getting in touch with the inner emotional and existential states of patients with AD, and it could represent a complementary screening tool for orienting cognitive impairment diagnoses.

Caricature, recognition, misrepresentation

AbstractCaricature undeniably excels at mocking people and their foibles. But is this mode of depiction limited to human beings? Can animals, objects, or even abstract concepts be caricatured? The first goal of this paper is to trace the limits of the caricaturable and see how far they extend beyond the human figure. The second goal is to understand how the wondrous modification enacted by caricature works. To do so, I analyze the features that caricature selects, and argue that such features have a relational nature—they are instantiated by the depicted subject but their sense hinges on implicit norms. I then outline the deep structure of reference exploited by caricature for depicting. Finally, I use this account to unravel the paradox of caricature: how can a picture both misrepresent its subject and prompt an accurate recognition? I defend the controversial claim that caricature per se does not amount to misrepresentation.

The anterior cingulate cortex is involved in intero-exteroceptive integration for spatial image transformation of the self-body

Spatial image transformation of the self-body is a fundamental function of visual perspective-taking. Recent research underscores the significance of intero-exteroceptive information integration to construct representations of our embodied self. This raises the intriguing hypothesis that interoceptive processing might be involved in the spatial image transformation of the self-body. To test this hypothesis, the present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity during an arm laterality judgment (ALJ) task. In this task, participants were tasked with discerning whether the outstretched arm of a human figure, viewed from the front or back, was the right or left hand. The reaction times for the ALJ task proved longer when the stimulus presented orientations of 0°, 90°, and 270° relative to the upright orientation, and when the front view was presented rather than the back view. Reflecting the increased reaction time, increased brain activity was manifested in a cluster centered on the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), suggesting that the activation reflects the involvement of an embodied simulation in ALJ. Furthermore, this cluster of brain activity exhibited overlap with regions where the difference in activation between the front and back views positively correlated with the participants' interoceptive sensitivity, as assessed through the heartbeat discrimination task, within the pregenual ACC. These results suggest that the ACC plays an important role in integrating intero-exteroceptive cues to spatially transform the image of our self-body.

O retrato

The sight of the human face has always exerted a powerful attraction on us. Whether in painting or photography, in cinema or theater, the representation of the human figure awakens in the viewer a varied range of emotions that range from the simple identification of a person to the inexhaustible mystery of the work of art in museums, passing through the history of customs and the religious function of icons. Lotman warns us that precisely because portrait is the simplest genre, it is also the most sophisticated: “The portrait is a kind of double mirror: in it art is reflected in life and life is reflected in art”. In what was one of his last works, Lotman describes the trajectory of portraiture in painting through the ages. He says: “In essence, the entire set of portraits can be considered as a polysemic set of meanings of the word ‘human being’.” The portrait, crossing societies and trends, has never ceased to be that mystery that at the same time reveals and hides the soul.

Gods and people in literature and philosophy. God by the picture of human or human by the picture of god? Homeric vision of reality versus Heraclitus’ vision of reality

The article deals with the theological issues of Homer and Heraclitus. The analysis of the works of Homer and the philosophical thought of Heraclitus serves to compare and contrast them extracting significant differences regarding the image of god and man. The author develops both literary and philosophical understanding of gods. She compares the man-god relationship in early Greek literature and philosophy. There is an interesting intrinsic tension in the literary tropes that can only be understood if the religious function of this literature is taken into account. The author tries to describe the vision of the world and the place of human beings in it in both sources: literature and philosophy. In philosophical writings, there can be seen a movement in the vision of the world structure: the gods become more inaccessible to humans, but humans gain the opportunity to become godlier if they follow a proper set of thoughts and actions proposed by philosophy. Religious poets were speaking of the past when the gods were approachable to people. Their fantasies were often mixed with old beliefs so that the divine-human world has as much wonder and eccentricity as dread. Philosophy conquers not only minds but also hearts, to convey them towards the ideal, bearing in mind the unattainable model of a virtuous man. While religion describes gods similar to humans, philosophy forges a new god-resemblant human figure.