Body feeling in human relations: the possible examples of Brancusi and Giacometti

"The body's cross-roads," in Rilke's words, "are the celestial streets that form what we are" (p. 227). "The evidential sensation of the whole body, not only of its weight, but also of its size, extension and sense of fullness" (Federn, p. 41), is with us all the time. Yet to much of this body feeling we pay no attention at all. The experience of the body is not independent of the environment, but is influenced by the interchange between an individual and the sensations which his environment gives to him. Of these sensations, the most important are clearly those produced by the complex stimuli of the social world. It is my thesis that body feeling is influenced by one's form of personal relationship, and that aspects of this bodily experience may be expressed in some modern sculpture. In addition, these changes in bodily experience may be determined by the working of a "sensory filter" and so have a neurophysiological basis.