Perceptions of Nudity

A detailed Summary of Perceptions of Nudity

As I began my research for this project, I started to

think about my own perceptions of nudity, not only in art,

but also in society. I have sat through countless hours of

Art History lectures and never really considered the vast

meaning behind all of the nudity. More than anything, that

fact really disturbed me considering I have been studying

art extensively for about two years. I have overlooked the

most basic subject matter in portraiture and dismissed

nudity as just something prevalent in paintings and

On the surface, art is what makes the difference

between nude and naked. If I see a painting or photograph

in a gallery of an unclothed woman, I look past the

nakedness and see the beauty in the piece. On the other

hand, I find absolutely no appeal in a Playboy or anything

of a pornographic nature. However, on a fundamental level,

it could be considered the same thing. Just like if an

undressed person decided to take a walk outside, they would

be arrested. But, if they painted their body and called it

art, they have absolutely no problem.

John Berger's chapter in Ways of Seeing was, to say the

least, enlightening material. Berger describes men and

The artist is selling a fantasy to men who are too weak to

her most impulsive state. A subject becomes naked when

all, we are the ones who ultimately make the distinction

explains this regression in men's views (Berger 50). The

pieces have little or nothing to do with any real women.

frontal because the sexual protagonist is the spectator,

heterosexual, would most likely stay away from the pose held

woman to observe. Berger's assumption for not having the

offensive as the European world. Yet there is another

Approximate Word count = 1683
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts

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