If you send a nude, are you distributing art?
The naked human body has been the object of artistic practice and study for centuries, so the modern nude an extension of this concept.
The naked body, have been subjects of artistic expression for artists all around the world. The plump and voluptuous figures of women in the Italian Renaissance and 18th Century France are one of the most notable eras that take advantage of the female form in art, with many pieces like The Birth of Venus and Olympia attracting both appreciation from viewers and are involved in extensive studies of both art and history. There are also the statues of Ancient Greece, as the first society to use nudity in art, they displayed the naked male body as a symbol of power and liberty. This was the opposite of the attitude that Ancient Greeks held to nude female bodies, which were inferior, shameful and were considered as ‘polluting’.
A nude is a sexually charged self-photograph of one’s naked body, and can be taken for a variety of reasons, including private viewing, to share with a recipient, or in some cases: monetary gain. Which is a parallel that is shared with traditional art, reasons for creation are entirely up to the subject and they can be categorised into media for self-expression and self-determination.
Some nudes are definitely artful in design when it involves makeup, costume (or lack thereof), a set and even themes or meaning. Some nudes are planned meticulously out to show the best features. So by that definition, Nudes are technically photography. They are portraits of one-self in an intimate setting, and the purpose of the taking defines the subject matter.
But does this mean that everyone who has taken a nude is an artist in their own right? Technically, if we are going to go by the most basic definitions of photography and creativity, then they count as a creative activity. Some nudes are definitely artistic in nature, with there being articles with instructions on how to create the right visual and emphasise certain parts of the body and ways to spice it up a little.
The decision of whether nudes can be considered art is the same type of process as to deciding whether anything could be considered as ‘art’ — it is up to personal beliefs and personal definition of what art is. Is art sanctioned to what we see in museums or would pay to have hung up on our walls? Or can we be a little more loose with that line between what is and what isn’t?
There is nothing wrong with being for or against nudes in general, let alone with whether they count as artistic, so long as there is respect to go with it. However, it is important to say this, as is the issue with many sexually charged areas of society, there is tension between those who support and those who don’t.
Even within the Feminist community, there are differing opinions when it comes to nudes. Some will say that the naked female form should be empowered, and so should be encouraged to take nudes as a form of self-appreciation. However, some believe that nude-taking, as well as the sex industry as a whole, are reinforcing the patriarchal system which sees the woman as an object of sexual fantasy. In a social climate where people are subconsciously encouraged to sexualise, more are taking advantage of it, if a model is going to be sexualised on a billboard, why can’t a normal woman take a photo of her own body and appreciate it. But in saying this, men take nudes too, so this argument should apply to them, even though the social. Reaching back to the opinions of the Ancient Greeks, men take those pictures for very much the same reasons that women do.
Perhaps then we should look at the reasons why people take nudes, and once again, there is a parallel to art. A nude could be taken to impress a partner, or illicit a reaction, or even for self-appreciation. Nudity has never strayed from the realm of art, with varying degrees of normalisation. Taking and sending nudes is comparable, in that nudes could be regarded as a form of self-expression and self-appreciation.
So perhaps, next time you receive a cheeky picture, wonder about how much thought has gone into it, and maybe show it a little more appreciation…
REFERENCES:
Yu, R. 2017, Tracking Historical Representations of the Female Nude, Medium, <https://medium.com/@richardkyu/tracking-the-historical-representation-of-the-female-nude-2d1d7fe1d1d>
Clarke, P. N/A, Stuck on the Third? A Guide to Fourth Wave Feminism, Future Women, <https://futurewomen.com/leadership/gender-diversity/fourth-wave-feminism-guide/>