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As a symbol of desire, ideal beauty, original sin and maternal fertility, the nude has worn many guises in the history art. The subject has been a mainstay from the very beginning. Every discussion of the nude in art begins with the first known work of art — the Willendorf Venus. This palm-sized statuette depicts an opulent female form who was almost certainly a symbol of fertility. Dating to approximately 25,000 BC, she also reveals just how deep that history and tradition of the nude in art actually runs.
Willendorf Venus, circa 28,000 BCE – 25,000 BCE, Naturhistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria)
Yet, in the history of art, any discussion of the nude generally centers around Western art and the female nude. In our latest online exclusive exhibition, M.S. Rau delves into the history of this time-honored subject, exploring the styles, artists and models that have defined and redefined the nude over the centuries. Bringing together a carefully curated selection of nudes from M.S. Rau’s own collection with important examples from museums, this exhibition discusses their place in the overarching timeline of art history.
Italian Mythological Marble Plaques after the Antique, Circa 1800, M.S. Rau
U N D R E S S E D
- AN EXPLORATION OF THE NUDE -
A VIRTUAL EXHIBITION
U N D R E S S E D
AN EXPLORATION OF THE NUDE
Despite the importance of the Willendorf Venus, most art historians will point to Greek art as the period when the history of the nude in art traditionally begins, though these works are not what immediately come to mind when we think of the nude today. Rather than a celebration of the female body, the ancient Greeks popularized the heroic male figure depicted sans toga.
The Renaissance saw a new rise in the nude as a respectable subject in art. This was, in part, due to the rediscovery of sculptures and pottery from antiquity.
The nude remained a popular subject in art into the 18th and 19th centuries. Rococo artists such as François Boucher relished in the subject.
THE RENAISSANCE NUDE
THE NEOCLASSICAL IDEAL
INSPIRED BY THE EAST
THE MODERN GAZE
Throughout the 19th century, a popular application of the nude was in the Orientalist genre of painting within Academism.
The nude evolved into something else entirely in the modern era. Many art historians would even suggest that the story of modern art began with a nude.
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UNDRESSED: AN EXPLORATION OF THE NUDE
UNDRESSED: AN EXPLORATION OF THE NUDE
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THE ART OF STONE
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