Nude in Art with Tim Marlow
“Do you think anyone ever buys a piece of junk like that?” says one police officer to the other standing in an art gallery. They are discussing a nude statue by Donatello. “Sure.” is the reply, “That’s art.” (Dialog from a scene near the end of the 1946 film noir classic, The Dark Corner.)
Flash forward seven years later to 1953. The nude photos of Bettie Page or Marilyn Monroe in Playboy magazine were what many considered as the “nude in art” – a perception in some circles that has continued for years. For those not familiar with the Aphrodite of Cnidus or The Discuss Thrower, their exposure to nudes (only in “girlie” magazines) would parallel that of commoners almost 200 years ago. The invention of the camera revolutionized art and made nude images available to the masses. Previously, nudes had been available primarily only to society’s elite, in galleries.
It seems as though homo sapiens have been hard wired since the beginning with an obsession for the beauty of our own bodies. British art historian, Tim Marlow, hosts a four-part series, The Nude in Art, that will be released on DVD February 22, 2011. The series begins with the Classical period and progresses through the Renaissance and Enlightenment to the Modern era. Each episode is approximately forty minutes in length and features many of the world’s most famous works of nude and semi-nude art.
Along the way, Marlow is joined by art historians, Peter Webb (author of The Erotic Arts), Christopher Kelly (Cambridge) and David Waters (Men’s Health Magazine). They offer their opinions on nudes in art and the changing perception of the nude as cultures, societies, and values changed throughout history. They agree that nude artwork reflects the cultures from which it emerged.
Follow Technorati