‘Has the approach to the female nude changed?’
I find our perception of the female body particularly intriguing and with the recent flourish of the feminist movement I wanted to see how our acceptance and appearance of woman, in the nude, In particular has changed. I hope to see the way women were once perceived and learn how this view has developed and taken us to where we are now. By tracing this convention through the timeline of art I plan to cover topics of sexuality, gender, and power. Looking at comparisons between modern and contemporary artists and how they have responded to female nudity in order to break with past normalities. I hope to uncover ways in which female and male artists in a current world, with more acceptance and equality than ever have developed new approaches to this tradition from a position of marginality.
Firstly I contacted the Victoria and Albert museum in the hope that they could offer me guidance and share their knowledge. They suggested that I look at the following sources; Gill Saunder’s book “The Nude: A New Perspective” (Herbert Press, 1989) and Lynda Nead’s “The Female Nude” (1992). I was also advised to look at the work of contemporary artists such as Jenny Savile, Vanessa Beecroft, Marc Quinn and Jeff Koons. I also did some research and came across John Burger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’, a 1972 BBC series.
From watching the ‘Ways of Seeing’ series I learnt to question some of the assumptions usually made about the traditions of

nude European paintings from 1400-1900. The way we perceive or look at nude paintings needs to be considered more, the process of looking at a painting is less spontaneous and natural then we want or tend to believe. A lot of this depends upon habit and convention. Nowadays looking at a painting is less special or appreciated. Nude paintings can be seen in a million different places at the same time thanks to the camera and digital advances, the camera has multiplied a singular paintings possible meanings and destroyed its unique original one. Reproduction has made the meaning of art ambiguous, however reproduction has also made it easier to connect our experience of art directly with other experiences. Now when you look at a painting you see them in the context of your own life and surroundings, the artwork you are looking at is manipulated by the movement and sound surrounding it. Originally paintings were an integral part of the building for they were designed, everything around that image was part of its meaning, part of the paintings uniqueness is the uniqueness in where it is. Everything around is confirming and consolidating its meaning. When looking at a painting in a museum, looking at the original, the interrupted silence and stillness of the painting can be very striking. You can see how even subtle music would manipulate a painting.
In the category of the nude painting, the women is an ever recurring subject. John Burger quoted ‘men dream of women, women dream of themselves being dreamt of.’ As well as ‘men

look at women, women watch themselves being looked at.’ This implied that female nudes were made for the pleasure of men and that a women’s role in life was to be beautiful and to please men. Women are constantly faced with glances reminding them of how they look or how they should look, behind every glance is a judgement. From early childhood she is taught to assess herself continually. Her success in life is dependent on how she appeared to people, particularly men.
It is said that ‘nude has to be seen as an object to be a nude and that nakedness is created by the beholder’. Suggesting that a person is not naked as they are but naked as we see them. This is prominent in the painting ‘Susanna and the elders’ it’s as if the person looking at the painting is joining the elders and spying on her. She looks back at us looking at her.