Nude

Through over 125 works by 69 artists, Nude takes a new look at this age-old subject. From Frederic Lord Leighton's 'The bath of Psyche' exhibited in 1890 to Ron Mueck's 'Wild man' of 2005, Nude traverses familiar and unfamiliar territory considering the nude in art history but also social history. It looks at the transformation of the naked body 'from a focus of high art training where students learnt the skills of life drawing as a prelude to producing history painting, through a genre that was at the centre of modernist ... experimentation, to a site of political activism and identity politics. The book includes two essays - 'Flesh and form: redefining the nude in the twentieth century' by Emma Chambers and 'Body language: notes on the painted nude' by Justin Paton. The artworks are divided into eight themes - historical, private, modern, real/surreal, paint as flesh, erotic, body politics and vulnerable body Each with a short introduction and an entry on each work.