Nudity in Art

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the nude body as a tradition of Western art, explaining the importance of the nude for art history. It shows how the European nude study differs from the images of nude bodies in other cultures and artistic traditions. It argues that the nude, despite the erotic and attractive aspects of the image, is indeed an idealized form of representation. In this genre, the realistic depiction of the body or sexuality are rarely the main purpose. The paper first looks back at the beginnings of the Western tradition of the nude and shows how the development of the nude from classical to modern times has always reflected the cultural period's view of the body and conception of the beautiful.

From the Paper:

"The revival of the nude as the central theme of Western art came at the beginning of the Renaissance, although the Gothic period had seen a return to realistic depiction of the "veritable face and body of the human being." The beauty of the naked human body was recognized as part of the classical heritage being revived by the humanists. Significantly, the new Renaissance art "stressed the importance of individual(s)... now at last individual men are real" (de la Croix & Tansey, 1970:371)."

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