Subjects:
think about my own perceptions of nudity, not only in art,
but also in society. I have sat through countless hours of
Art History lectures and never really considered the vast
meaning behind all of the nudity. More than anything, that
fact really disturbed me considering I have been studying
art extensively for about two years. I have overlooked the
most basic subject matter in portraiture and dismissed
nudity as just something prevalent in paintings and
On the surface, art is what makes the difference
between nude and naked. If I see a painting or photograph
in a gallery of an unclothed woman, I look past the
nakedness and see the beauty in the piece. On the other
hand, I find absolutely no appeal in a Playboy or anything
of a pornographic nature. However, on a fundamental level,
it could be considered the same thing. Just like if an
undressed person decided to take a walk outside, they would
be arrested. But, if they painted their body and called it
art, they have absolutely no problem.
John Berger’s chapter in Ways of Seeing was, to say the
least, enlightening material. Berger describes men and
. . .
All of the artists’ works are somewhat harmless in
theory. Women are by nature
more receiving than men, but Berger’s assumption of female
operation is loosely like a side effect of the male’s
character.
When nudity or nakedness is added to these core
qualities, things get more uncertain. Men are
the subject and they do something that causes them to
interact with the object, or woman.
Before nudity became acceptable to Greek men, mythical
creatures and gods were the only ones portrayed nude in art
work. Kenneth Clark shared
my original belief that being naked is to be without
clothes, but call it art and it becomes a nude composition
(Berger 53). If nakedness was
created in our minds, why not the nude composition? After
all, we are the ones who ultimately make the distinction
between art and pornography. Consequently, on some level, men will remain
the beholder and women, the ones who the men examine (Berger
64).
Men and women fit together like a sentence.
She is naked as the spectator sees her”, is the way Berger
explains this regression in men’s views (Berger 50).
In “The Couple” by Max Slevogt, the woman, Eve, stares
out at the viewer, perhaps guiltily, while the man
confidently poses with his hands on his hips and his nose in
the air. Men get their type of life force from a
show of power, or how much they can achieve or provide. These paintings provide the
power of suggestion free of physical arousal. What an
individual considers art makes the distinction between being
nude and being naked.
Essay's Topics
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