Depictions of Nudity - Fine Art

Fine Art

Further information: Nude (art)

Nudity in art has generally reflected — with some exceptions — social standards of aesthetics and modesty/morality of their time in painting, sculpture and more recently in photography. At all times in human history, the human body has been one of the principal subjects for artists. It has been represented on prehistoric paintings and statutes and in all eras since. The male nude was more common in antiquity, especially in ancient Greece, but today the tendency is for the female nude body to be more highly regarded and represented. Since the first days of photography, the nude was a source of inspiration for those that adopted the new medium. Most of the early images have been closely guarded or surreptitiously circulated, on account of social norms of the time. Many cultures accept nudity in art even when they shun actual nudity. For example, even an art gallery which exhibits nude paintings will typically not accept nudity of a visitor.

Goya painted La maja vestida after outrage in Spanish society over the previous Desnuda.
Without a pretense to allegorical or mythological meaning, the painting was "the first totally profane life-size female nude in Western art".
La maja desnuda
La maja vestida

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