(Warning: some full-frontal male nudity in fine art, not at all raunchy, but nevertheless not to everyone’s taste.)
In my e-mail yesterday, from Rod Williams, about:
an album of male nudes in art, posted by Christa Zaat, a remarkable Dutch woman who has assembled an enormous online archive of art across the centuries, and posts images daily on FB. She posted this link [to her trove of male nudes; there’s another of female nudes] on FB a couple of days ago.
Along with this note from CZ:
It’s all about: Male Nudes!
Conversationally, naked and nude are pretty much interchangeable. However, many people, especially in the artistic community, do say there are differences. The differences can be seen as follows: Nude: To be without clothes, or bare, in a setting that the subject feels safe and comfortable, and they are not being represented in a sexually accessible manner. They are unclothed bodies that are intended to represent natural beauty, not to create impulses. Naked: To be without clothing, or bare, in a setting that the subject would be embarrassed, left feeling exposed and defenseless, or to be presented in a sexual manner.
Several of CZ’s examples have already appeared on this blog (and several more are in the pipeline). Here I’ll supply three early 19th-century examples of oil paintings on canvas from CZ’s trove: two character studies, one meditation on the male body.
— by Théodore Géricault (French, 1791 – 1824):
(#1) Académie d’Homme, les Bras Croisés (Academy of Man / Male Academy, Crossed Arms), undated (photo Sotheby’s); a man at the height of his powers, solid and composed
— by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (Danish, 1783 – 1853):
(#2) Standing Male Model, Carl Frørup, 1837 (photo Akademiraadet, Det Kongelige Akademi for de Skønne Kunster); a self-assured young man, aware of his abilities
— by William Etty (British, 1787 – 1849):
(#3) Academic Study of a Male Nude, Seen from Behind, 1830-35 (photo Southend Museums Service); an appreciation of the models musculature: his upper arms, his shoulders, and especially his buttocks
There are many rear-view presentations in CZ’s collections. Her front- and side-view presentations often include the model’s penis, in a matter-of-fact way (CZ focuses on realistic, “natural”, images, rather than those in which the models represent heroic or mythological characters, where full-frontal nudity is a conventional emblem of their other-worldly status.)
Leave a Reply