A visual catalogue of the human form?

February 8, 2017 5:52 PM

My kids have become curious about bodies. Is there a book or a web site that presents the wide variety of the human body across shapes, sizes, ages, genders and colours, in all its bare glory and mundanity?
posted by hifimofo to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the research in the Guide to Human Types, but I can say it is fascinating just to look through. It's meant as a guide for illustrators trying to draw people from all over the world, and it contains diagrams and sketches of different body types, face shapes, and so on. I believe the author also sells a more in-depth version as a book.
posted by ourobouros at 6:38 PM on February 8, 2017

Best answer: Greg Friedler's Naked [city name] series of books has a moderate spread of diversity of nudes in non-sexualized poses. You might be able to find them at a local library. The website isn't working properly for me but if you search for his name in Google Images, you can find examples.

Spencer Tunick might be worth taking a look at, though his models tend to skew younger and Caucasian.
posted by Candleman at 6:51 PM on February 8, 2017

Here's a really extensive height/weight chart.
posted by gregr at 7:16 PM on February 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

My Body Gallery has lots of pictures of women and men of various shapes and sizes (not so much colours). The UI is...not stellar, but it lets you search by e.g height and pant size, and then shows you all the different people who meet those stats.
posted by quaking fajita at 7:55 PM on February 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

They're in tiny underwear and not naked, but this series of the body types of Olympic athletes is pretty great.
posted by rtha at 7:58 PM on February 8, 2017 [6 favorites]

The Nu Project. Mostly women but some men.
posted by Crystalinne at 8:01 PM on February 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm putting in a plug for an oldie but goodie: Family of Man
posted by eglenner at 1:54 AM on February 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh! And also, try looking at the #bodypositive and similar tags across Instagram. Some accounts I follow (again, mostly women, generally in underwear/swimwear):
NonAirbrushedMe
SelfLoveClubb
BodyPosipanda
posted by Crystalinne at 11:17 AM on February 9, 2017