Whether as the divine Venus, an ancient goddess, or an 18th century Libertine, nude women have captured the imagination of artists across thousands of years.
From art history to the present, these women evoke many different emotions, from sensual to ascetic. Yet each reflects the cultural context in which it was painted.
Art History
The depiction of female nudity in art has a long history that has evolved through different eras and art movements. It has been a taboo subject and, in some cases, even controversial to depict because it challenged the social norms of that time. However, it has also been an important source of inspiration for many artists, especially since the Renaissance when painters started to value a realistic form and plastic beauty.
In the earliest days of Renaissance, it was still very difficult to depict the naked body of women in art, unless they were ancient gods or goddesses. This changed with the invention of painting and the rediscovery of antiquity, which led to a greater appreciation for realistic musculature and proportions. This led to a new movement, called Mannerism, which freed nude portrayals of women from religious and mythical contexts. This movement was mainly led by artists such as Michelangelo and Titian, who portrayed nude females with both sensual and classical values.
Another artist who favored a more naturalistic style was Jean-Honore Fragonard. He was a master painter who made great landscapes, religious and mythological paintings, but he was also known for his frivolous Rococo works. His painting titled Shirt Removed from 1770, for example, depicts a naked woman lying down while a putto servant of Venus removes her blouse. This work embodies the erotic and sensual qualities of the nude, although the model’s closed eyes and half-turned body suggest a degree of modesty.
During the 19th century, the aristocratic society’s taste for eroticism in art grew and prompted painters to create works that were intended to shock and titillate. This was particularly true of male nude paintings, which were used to showcase the muscular physiques of their subjects. Leon Bonnat’s painting titled Samson’s Youth is one of the most famous examples. This artwork reflects the classical ideal of male physical perfection, a concept that was rooted in ancient Greek beliefs about the importance of physical strength.
The sexualization of art also affected women of color differently than white women. According to Charmaine Nelson, black women were not represented in nude art as often as white women from the Renaissance until the 1990s. This difference in representation instituted a system of control that placed black women in the position of other. As a result, they were not seen as the object of desire in the same way as white women. In addition, the nude image of black women became a symbol of witchcraft and was used to fetishize their bodies. This exploitation influenced the representation of women of color in other art forms, such as movies and music. In the modern era, the representation of nude women in art has become more diverse and less erotic, but it remains an important subject for both artists and spectators.
Modernism
Modernism is characterized by the rejection of traditional themes and styles as well as by a focus on new ideas and ways of thinking. In the case of modernism and nudewomen, this usually translates to a reevaluation of how female bodies are portrayed.
For example, modernists tended to show women in more naturalistic poses and to focus on the relationship between woman and nature rather than a societally determined image of the perfect beauty. Modernism also often emphasized the idea that the body is not separate from nature, and this was especially true in paintings of nude women.
One of the most famous examples of this was Henri Matisse’s painting Bathers with a Turtle from 1908. This painting shows three simplified nude figures that look like child drawings, all of whom are absorbed in their thoughts and appear to be floating above the water, sky, and earth. The use of flat areas of color helps to emphasize the lack of depth.
The same type of modernism can be found in Toraji’s prints, and it is particularly present in the image titled Bored (Figure 5). In this print, a nude woman sits on her knees reading. Her body takes up almost the entire area of the oval red rug and her back is leaned against a calico cat. She is surrounded by books, magazines, and newspapers that are spread out on the floor. The modernism of this print is further enhanced by the fact that these are all Western publications and that the moga figure has shorter, permed hair which was the most popular style for females in Japan at the time.
Toraji’s 1935 publication date for this series of prints places them towards the end of his life, so his artistic techniques have not yet been completely influenced by the modernism of the early twentieth century. However, he did already have some training in Western art and his work reflects the influence of modernism in its rejection of traditional forms and its emphasis on new ideas and ways of thinking.
Moreover, it is important to remember that in addition to rejecting traditional forms and embracing new ideas, modernism was also a movement for gender equality. In this regard, it is important to remember that the three women artists discussed in this essay — Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Munter, and Natori Shunsen — all embraced modernism in their treatment of nudewomen. All of them, like Henri Matisse and other modernists, showed a disregard for bourgeois mores and unhinged normative conceptions of femininity.
Baroque
The Baroque is an era of art and architecture that encompasses the 16th through 17th century in Europe. It is an era that is most often defined by movement, contrast, and extravagance, particularly in the religious works that are typical of the style. Baroque artists sought to imbue their work with life, even if that “life” was often sexual in nature. This is especially true of sculpture, where a male artist could capture the essence of a woman’s presence and beauty in stone. Two examples of this are the marble busts of Costanza Bonarelli by Gianlorenzo Bernini and Maria Cerri Capranica by Alessandro Algardi.
The broader artistic movement that is called the Baroque began in Italy in the late 16th century, and was propelled by powerful religious interests. In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church adopted a propagandistic stance in which art was used as a means to extend and stimulate belief in its religion.
Artists such as Raphael took up this cause, and their work often included nude women. In his La Fornarina, a young baker’s daughter sits on a stool in front of a dark background of foliage. She bares her arms, one of which is adorned with a gold band that displays Raphael’s signature.
Other Baroque artwork emphasized movement, with a particular emphasis on the interaction of light and shadow. Among the most important Baroque painters were Rembrandt van Rijn, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, and Diego Velazquez. They all exhibited a strong interest in chiaroscuro, the use of contrasts between light and dark, and an attempt to portray life as it is rather than a dull, sterile record of a past event.
A fascination with physical materials was also central to the Baroque, as the development of modern science and the opening up of trade brought new materials and techniques into Europe. This resulted in a greater interest in objects made of exotic materials such as porcelain and lacquer from East Asia. This led to a growth in marquetry, the art of laying veneers of different colored woods on furniture surfaces.
Ultimately, the Baroque collapsed in the early 17th century and was replaced by the Rococo style, which was championed by France, the emerging European powerhouse at the time. The failure of the Baroque was a reflection of the decline of its Italian birthplace, and the shift in power within Europe. The new Rococo style was more delicate and swayed less toward grandiosity, but still displayed many of the same artistic elements that define the Baroque. These included chiaroscuro, Tenebrism, Quadro Riportato, and illustionism. This is also the era that saw the first widespread use of naturalism in painting. It is also the era that introduced the first neoclassical symphonies and operas.