The definition of foreshortening according to the TATE Glossary of Art terms (Tateorguk, 2017):
“Foreshortening refers to the technique of depicting an object or human body in a picture so as to produce an illusion of projection or extension in space”
(Born in 1970, Cambridge, England)
Jenny Saville is the first artist that comes to mind when thinking of figure drawing and foreshortening. Her large scale paintings of massive human bodies use foreshortening to the extreme. The angles of the models allow her to lead our gaze from one body part to the other, like here from the penis to the stomach, to the breasts in the transvestite, or around the surgeons marks on the right image.
The formats are massive, and the figures are massive, continuing far over the borders of the canvas.
The human flesh is overwhelmingly dominant and has an almost tactile character. According to an interview with Simon Schama for the Saatchi Gallery, Jenny Saville is looking for “a contemporary architeture of the body” and it is true that I feel like I am looking at monuments or landscape of the human here.
2017. Gagosiancom. [Online]. [29 January 2017]. Available from: http://www.gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/selected-works
2017. Saatchigallerycom. [Online]. [29 January 2017]. Available from: http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/jenny_saville.htm
2017. Tateorguk. [Online]. [29 January 2017]. Available from: http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/foreshortening