Postures: Body Language in Art

Morris’s vast selection of gestures, from the handshake to the glove-slap, are analyzed and grouped according to wider forms of communication - greetings, threats, insults, and more. All are illustrated with full color works, ranging from prehistoric masks and Greek statues to contemporary paintings and sculptures. Postures uniquely combines Morris’s expertise in both art and social science, shedding new light on even the most familiar paintings.

Desmond Morris is a zoologist, ethnologist, and painter. He is the bestselling author of The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the Human Animal, The Human Zoo: A Zoologist’s Classic Study of the Urban Animal, Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior, Bodytalk: A World Guide to Gestures, The Artistic Ape: Three Million Years of Art, and The Lives of the Surrealists.