Ugly, beautiful, strange and familiar bodies urge visitors to rethink their perception of human physicality at the student-curated exhibition "Bodies Unbound: The Classical and Grotesque," on view now through June 13 at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.

"Bodies Unbound" is the work of 17 undergraduate members of the History of Art Majors' Society. Laurel Garber '10, the society's president, said the students wanted viewers to consider how they perceive, understand and define their bodies.

"By exploring two terms -- 'classical' and 'grotesque' -- in relation to the body, we were hoping to open up and expand on their definitions," she said.

Sammy Perlmutter '10 said the most challenging part of curating the exhibition was ensuring that they were being true to the show's theme while selecting visually stimulating pieces.

"It was often tempting to put a colorful work by a big-name artist in the show, even if the work didn't match the theoretical framework of the exhibition exactly. We found it much more effective to think deeply about each piece and understand why we wanted to include it," Perlmutter said.

Elizabeth Emrich, curatorial assistant at the museum, believes the show's success stems partly from the wide range of objects on display. Hasbro Inc.'s Mr. Potato Head, for example, demonstrates the potential for amusement in manipulating and distorting the human form and shows that children's toys can find a place in art.

Mattel Inc.'s Barbie blurs boundaries between classical and grotesque, say the exhibition notes: "With long legs, a tiny waist, large breasts and blonde hair, Barbie's proportions have become cliché for an idealized and physically unobtainable female body."

The exhibition also features about 40 paintings and photographs, including "Eeyore and the Snake," a Walt Disney Co. painted animation cel. Eeyore's tail, which is literally nailed to his body, frequently becomes detached. This deterioration is symbolic of the literal unbinding of the body that is central to the show's theme, according to the exhibit notes.

"The Fall of Man," by German painter Albrecht Dürer, presents the figures of Adam and Eve falling from idealized, spiritual forms to imperfect material bodies.

The exaggerated alteration of shape in Honoré Daumier's "Lower the curtain, the farce is played out" symbolizes Louis Philippe's evolution into a grotesque form to satirize the inflation of his political ego and the corruption of his regime, says the exhibit's description.

Cindy Sherman's color photographs of herself in various disguises show that identity is a flexible construction, according to the exhibit notes. Sherman uses costumes and makeup to assume a variety of characters, including Mrs. Santa Claus.

"The show this spring was quite successful in drawing people in and sparking conversation," Emrich said. "The most rewarding part of this process, for me, is learning about artwork from the students' perspective."

In addition to selecting artworks from the Johnson's permanent collection, the student curators also created a catalog for the exhibition and organized an April 18 symposium on the grotesque at the A.D. White House.

The History of Art Majors' Society aims to increase awareness and appreciation of the visual arts in the Cornell community. Each year, the organization curates an exhibition using the space and collection of the Johnson Art Museum.

Farrah Tan '10 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.