Fine art nude photography is a
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
of
fine-art photography
Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stand ...
which
depicts the nude human body with an emphasis on form,
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
, emotional content, and other
aesthetic
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
qualities. The
nude
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
has been a prominent subject of
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
since its invention, and played an important role in establishing photography as a
fine art
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
medium. The distinction between fine art photography and other subgenres is not absolute, but there are certain defining characteristics.
Erotic
Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...
interest, although often present, is secondary, which distinguishes art photography from both
glamour photography
Glamour photography is a genre of photography in which the subjects are portrayed in erotic poses ranging from fully clothed to nude. The term may be a euphemism for erotic photography. For Model (person)#Glamour models, glamour models, body sha ...
, which focuses on showing the subject of the photograph in the most attractive way, and
pornographic photography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, , which has the primary purpose of
sexually arousing the viewer. Fine art photographs are also not taken to serve any journalistic, scientific, or other practical purpose. The distinction between these is not always clear, and photographers, as with other artists, tend to make their own case in characterizing their work, though the viewer may have a different assessment.
The nude remains a controversial subject in all media, but more so with photography due to its inherent realism.
The male nude has been less common than the female, and more rarely exhibited or published. The use of children as subjects in nude photography is especially controversial.
History
19th century
File:Durieu 5.jpg, alt=Photo, Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu
Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu (10 December 1800 – 16 May 1874) was an early French amateur nude photographer, primarily known for his early nude photographs of men and women.
A number of his male and female models were also painted by E ...
, part of a series made with Eugène Delacroix
File:Eugène Delacroix - Odalisque - WGA6225.jpg, alt=Painting, Odalisque (1857) by Eugène Delacroix (Oil on panel), a painting with similar pose
File:Frank Eugene - Adam und Eva 1898.jpg, alt=Adam&Eve, Adam and Eve by Frank Eugene
Frank Eugene (19 September 1865 – 16 December 1936) was an American-born photographer who was a founding member of the Photo-Secession and one of the first university-level professors of photography in the world.
Early life
Eugene was born in N ...
, taken 1898, published in ''Camera Work
''Camera Work'' was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It presented high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world, with the goal to establish photography as a ...
'' no. 30, 1910
File:Marconi, Gaudenzio (1841-1885) - Nudo accademico.jpg, Nude by Gaudenzio Marconi
Gaudenzio Marconi (1841–1885) was an Italian photographer who worked in France. He sold ''académies'' (photographic figure studies) to students at the École des beaux-arts (School of Fine Arts) in Paris. Accomplished artists and students often ...
, 1841–1885
File:Pluschow Male nude.gif, Guglielmo Plüschow
Guglielmo Plüschow (born Wilhelm Plüschow; August 18, 1852 – January 3, 1930) was a German photographer who moved to Italy and became known for his nude photos of local youths, predominantly males. Plüschow was a cousin of Wilhelm von Gl ...
Male nude
File:Gloeden, Wilhelm von (1856-1931) - n. 1189 (other version).jpg, Wilhelm von Gloeden
Wilhelm Iwan Friederich August von Gloeden (September 16, 1856 – February 16, 1931), commonly known as Baron von Gloeden, was a German photographer who worked mainly in Italy. He is mostly known for his pastoral nude studies of Sicilian bo ...
, Two male nudes outdoors c1900
Those early photographers in
Western culture
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
s who sought to establish photography as a fine art medium, frequently chose women as the subjects for their nude photographs, in poses that accorded with traditional
nudes in other media. Before nude photography, art nudes usually used allusions to
classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
; gods and warriors, goddesses and nymphs. Depictions of male and female nudes in traditional art mediums had been mostly limited to portrayals as an ideal warrior or athlete (for men) or that emphasized divinity and reproduction (for women), and early photographic art first engaged these archetypes as well. Poses,
lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...
,
soft focus
In photography, soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to spherical aberration. A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration in order to give the appearance of blurring the image while ...
,
vignetting
In photography and optics, vignetting is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation toward the periphery compared to the image center. The word ''vignette'', from the same root as ''vine'', originally referred to a decorative border ...
and hand
retouching were employed to create photographic images that rose to the level of art comparable to the other arts at that time.
The main limitation was that early photographs were
monochrome
A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochrom ...
. Although 19th century artists in other media often used photographs as substitutes for live models, the best of these photographs were also intended as works of art in their own right.
Nude photography was more controversial than painted nude works, and in order to avoid censorship some early nude photographs were described as "studies for artists",
while others were used as references by artists to do drawings and paintings as a supplement to live
models
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
.
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...
was an early adopter of the practice of using photographs taken specifically for him by his friend,
Eugène Durieu
Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
made his own photographs that he used for painting references.
Thomas Eakins
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists.
For the length ...
used photography for studies of several of his paintings ''
The Swimming Hole
''The Swimming Hole'' (also known as ''Swimming'' and ''The Old Swimming Hole'') is an 1884–85 painting by the American artist Thomas Eakins (1844–1916), Goodrich catalog #190, in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art i ...
'' as an example.
Modern
File:Alfred Stieglitz- Georgia O’Keeffe ,Hands and Breasts, 1919.jpg, alt=Stieglitz, ''Georgia O’Keeffe, Hands and Breasts'' (1919) by Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...
File:KOPPITZ 0007.jpg, alt=Stieglitz, Nude study by William Mortensen
William Herbert Mortensen (January 27, 1897 – August 12, 1965) was an American glamour photographer, primarily known for his Hollywood portraits in the 1920s–1940s in the Pictorialist style.
Early life
Mortensen was born on January 27, 1897, ...
As fine art photography first embraced and then moved past classical allegorical imagery, both male and female photographers began to use the male nude as another medium to examine issues of representation and identity, sexuality and voyeurism.
Photographing nudes (and particularly male nudes) became a way for women artists to engage the subject of “the nude” from the position of power traditionally reserved for male artists; alternatively, nude self-portraiture allowed men to begin to re-evaluate accepted definitions of sensuality and masculinity by photographing themselves.
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...
is a major figure in bringing modern art to America by exhibiting the new genre of art in his New York galleries at the beginning of the 20th century. He is known to the public perhaps more for his relationship with
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Amer ...
, whose nude photos he exhibited in 1921 while married to someone else. "Stieglitz used the camera as a kind of mirror. 'My photographs,' he wrote in 1925, 'are ever born of an inner need--an Experience of Spirit. I do not make ''pictures . . .'' I have a vision of life and I try to find equivalents for it sometimes in the form of photographs.' Often he would write of ''true seeing'' and of ''inness''. As O'Keeffe noted rightly, the man she knew so well was 'always photographing himself.'"
Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham (; April 12, 1883 – June 23, 1976) was an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Cunningham was a member of the California-based Group f/64, known for its dedication to t ...
began taking photographs in Seattle in 1905, in the soft-focused ''
pictorialist
Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...
'' style popular at that time; but she is best known for the sharp-focused modern style she developed later. She is also attributed as the first woman photographer to take a nude photo of a man (her husband,
Roi Partridge). In the work of
Judy Dater
Judith Rose Dater (née Lichtenfeld; June 21, 1941) is an American photographer and feminist. She is perhaps best known for her 1974 photograph, '' Imogen and Twinka at Yosemite'', featuring an elderly Imogen Cunningham, one of America's first wo ...
, one particular photo, ''Imogen and Twinka'', became one of the most recognizable images caught by an American photographer. It features a 91 year old Imogen Cunningham and a nude
Twinka Thiebaud
Twinka Thiebaud (born December 9, 1945) is an American model who has posed for many of the most important photographers of the 20th century.
A photograph by Judy Dater depicting Thiebaud, ''Imogen and Twinka at Yosemite'', is considered among the ...
. The photo was the first adult full frontal nude photograph published in
''Life'' magazine, in 1976.
Man Ray
After
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
,
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
photographers became more experimental in their portrayal of nudity, using reflective distortions and printing techniques to create abstractions or depicting real life rather than classical allusions.
Beginning in the late 1920s
Man Ray
Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...
experimented with the Sabattier, or
solarization
The Sabatier effect, also known as pseudo-solarization (or pseudo-solarisation) and erroneously referred to as the Sabattier effect, is a phenomenon in photography in which the image recorded on a negative or on a photographic print is wholly o ...
process, a technique that won him critical esteem, especially from the
Surrealists
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
. Many of the central figures of Surrealism—
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
,
Magritte,
Dalí—followed his example in using photography in addition to other media. Other photographers, such as
Maurice Tabard
Maurice Tabard (July 12, 1897 – February 23, 1984) was a French photographer. Tabard was one of the leading photographers of the Surrealist movement, which he entered under the influence of his friend, American photographer Man Ray. His work w ...
and
Raoul Ubac
Raoul Ubac (31 August 1910, Cologne – 22 March 1985, Dieudonne, Oise) was a French painter, sculptor, photographer and engraver.
He had various and irregular artistic training and travelled in Europe between 1928 and 1934. He worked mostly ...
, were directly inspired by Man Ray's techniques, while photographers such as
André Kertész
André Kertész (; 2 July 1894 – 28 September 1985), born Andor Kertész, was a Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition (visual arts), composition and the photo essay. In the early y ...
and
Brassaï
Brassaï (; pseudonym of Gyula Halász; 9 September 1899 – 8 July 1984) was a Hungarian–French photographer, sculptor, medalist, writer, and filmmaker who rose to international fame in France in the 20th century. He was one of the numerous H ...
were indirectly influenced by his innovative approach to the medium.
Edward Weston
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...
evolved a particularly American aesthetic, using a
large format
Large format refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the frame o ...
camera to capture images of
nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
and
landscapes
A landscape is the visible features of an area of Terrestrial ecoregion, land, its landforms, and how they integrate with Nature, natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionar ...
as well as nudes, establishing photography as a fine arts medium. In 1937 Weston became the first photographer to be awarded a
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. For a famous example of Weston's work see:
Charis Wilson
Helen Charis Wilson (; May 5, 1914 – November 20, 2009), was an American model and writer, most widely known as a subject of Edward Weston's photographs.
Early life
Charis Wilson was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of Harry Leo ...
.
Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt (born Hermann Wilhelm Brandt; 2 May 1904 – 20 December 1983)Paul DelanyBill Brandt: A Life was a British photographer and photojournalist. Born in Germany, Brandt moved to England, where he became known for his images of British ...
is best known for a series of nudes, developed primarily between 1945 and 1961, that reflect his personal vision. Brandt's work was varied not only in the range of his subjects, but also in his printing style, which changed throughout his career. This exhibition was the first to trace that evolution.
Diane Arbus
Many fine art photographers have a variety of subjects in their work, the nude being one.
Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus (; née Nemerov; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
" The New York ...
was attracted to unusual people in unusual settings, including a
nudist camp
A naturist resort or nudist resort is an establishment that provides accommodation (or at least camping space) and other amenities for guests in a context where they are invited to practise naturism – that is, a lifestyle of non-sexual socia ...
.
Lee Friedlander
Lee Friedlander (born July 14, 1934) is an American photographer and artist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Friedlander evolved an influential and often imitated visual language of urban "social landscape," with many of his photographs including fragm ...
had more conventional subjects, one being
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
as a young model.
Contemporary
File:Equus 1989.jpg, Equus 1989 by Sergio Valle Duarte
Sergio may refer to:
* Sergius (name), Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio
* Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found
* Sergio (album), ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass
* Sergio (2009 film), ' ...
File:Augusto De Luca - Nudes 1.jpg, alt=Nude Photo, Nudes (1980) by Augusto De Luca
File:Re-reading of The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife 1988.jpg, Re-reading of The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife 1988, by Sergio Valle Duarte
Sergio may refer to:
* Sergius (name), Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio
* Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found
* Sergio (album), ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass
* Sergio (2009 film), ' ...
File:Sasha Kargaltsev (10781774254).jpg, ''Kargaltsev posed nude on rocks'' (2012) by Alexander Kargaltsev
The distinction between fine art and glamour is often one of
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
, with fine art being sold through galleries or dealers in limited editions signed by the artist, and glamour photos being distributed through mass media.
For some, the difference is in the gaze of the model, with glamour models looking into the camera, while art models do not.
Glamour and
fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
photographers have aspired to fine art status in some of their work. One of the first was
Irving Penn
Irving Penn (June 16, 1917October 7, 2009) was an American photographer known for his fashion photography, portraits, and still lifes. Penn's career included work at ''Vogue'' magazine, and independent advertising work for clients including Is ...
, who progressed from ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'' magazine to photographing fashion models such as
Kate Moss
Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...
nude.
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...
,
Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton (born Helmut Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-a ...
and
Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of Jo ...
have followed a similar path with
portrait
A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...
s of the famous, many of them nude. or partially clothed. In the post-modern era, where fame is often the subject of fine art, Avedon's photo of
Nastassja Kinski
Nastassja Aglaia Kinski (; , ; born 24 January 1961) is a German actress and former model who has appeared in more than 60 films in Europe and the United States. Her worldwide breakthrough was with ''Stay as You Are'' (1978). She then came to gl ...
with a python, and Leibovitz's magazine covers of
Demi Moore pregnant and in
body paint
Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or "h ...
, have become iconic. The work of
Joyce Tenneson
Joyce Tenneson (born May 29, 1945) is an American fine art photographer known for her distinctive style of photography, which often involves nude or semi-nude women.
Biography
Tenneson earned her master's degree in photography from George Washin ...
has gone the other way, from fine art with a unique, soft-focus style showing woman at all stages of life to portraiture of famous people and fashion photography.
Although nude photographers have largely worked within established forms that show bodies as sculptural abstractions, some, such as
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...
, have created works that deliberately blur the boundaries between
erotica
Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use a ...
and art.
Several photographers have become controversial because of their nude photographs of underage subjects.
David Hamilton often used erotic themes, but
Jock Sturges
John Sturges (; born 1947), known as Jock Sturges, is an American photographer, best known for his images of nude Adolescence, adolescents and their families. Sturges pled guilty in 2021 at Franklin County (MA) Superior Court to an unnatural and ...
celebrates the beauty of people in naturist settings without emphasis on sexuality.
Sally Mann
Sally Mann HonFRPS (born Sally Turner Munger; May 1, 1951) is an American photographer who has made large format black and white photographs—at first of her young children, then later of landscapes suggesting decay and death.
Early life and e ...
was raised in rural Virginia, in a locale where
skinny-dipping
Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is '' skinny-dipping''.
In both British and American English, to swim means "to move throu ...
in a river was common, so many of her most famous photographs are of her own children swimming in the nude.
Less well-known photographers have been charged as criminals (but not convicted) for photos of their own children.
Body image
Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in a number of disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, ps ...
has become a topic explored by many photographers working with models whose bodies do not conform to conventional prejudices about beauty.
Issues
Public perception
At the beginning of the 21st century, it has become difficult to make an artistic statement in nude photography, given the proliferation of non-artistic and pornographic images which taints the subject in the perception of most viewers, limiting the opportunities to exhibit or publish the images. When they appear in mainstream consumer magazines such as ''
Popular Photography
''Popular Photography'', formerly known as ''Popular Photography & Imaging'', also called ''Pop Photo'', is a monthly American consumer website and former magazine that at one time had the largest circulation of any imaging magazine, with an edit ...
'', ''PC Photo'', and ''
Shutterbug''; the editors receive sufficient negative response that they tend to reject the work of serious nude-image photographers.
Children as subjects
Several photographers have become controversial because of their nude photographs of
underage
In law, a minor is someone under a certain age, usually the age of majority, which demarcates an underage individual from legal adulthood. The age of majority depends upon jurisdiction and application, but it is commonly 18. ''Minor'' may also ...
subjects.
David Hamilton often used erotic themes in books such as ''
The Age of Innocence
''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine ''Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Apple ...
'', which have caused controversy in both the US and the UK.
Jock Sturges
John Sturges (; born 1947), known as Jock Sturges, is an American photographer, best known for his images of nude Adolescence, adolescents and their families. Sturges pled guilty in 2021 at Franklin County (MA) Superior Court to an unnatural and ...
celebrates the beauty of people in
naturist
Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...
settings
and states that his work is not exploitative; however in 1990 the FBI raided his studio and made charges that were later dismissed. However, due to the local nature of US laws on the issue, books of both Hamilton's and Sturges' photos have been ruled obscene in the states of Alabama, South Carolina, and Colorado.
Sally Mann
Sally Mann HonFRPS (born Sally Turner Munger; May 1, 1951) is an American photographer who has made large format black and white photographs—at first of her young children, then later of landscapes suggesting decay and death.
Early life and e ...
was raised in rural Virginia, in a locale where
skinny-dipping
Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is '' skinny-dipping''.
In both British and American English, to swim means "to move throu ...
in a river was common, so some of her most famous photographs are of her own children swimming or playing in the nude.
Less well-known photographers have been charged as criminals (but not convicted) for photos of their own children.
Some writers characterize many of these images as sexualizing children regardless of artistic merit.
In May 2008, police in Sydney, Australia, raided an exhibition by the photographer
Bill Henson
Bill Henson (born 7 October 1955) is an Australian contemporary art photographer.
Art
Henson has exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, the National Gal ...
featuring images of naked children on allegations of child pornography.
In June 2008, it was reported in ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' that police would have no basis to prosecute Henson over his photographs of naked teenagers, after they were declared "mild and justified" and given a PG rating by the
Australian Classification Board
The Australian Classification Board (ACB or CB) is an Australian government statutory body responsible for the classification and censorship of films, video games and publications for exhibition, sale or hire in Australia. The ACB was establis ...
, suggesting viewing by children under the age of 16 is suitable with parental guidance.
Also in 2008, ''Art Monthly Australia'' published a nude image of the 6-year-old Olympia Nelson taken by her mother,
Polixeni Papapetrou. According to the then-11-year-old Olympia, she did not believe the photograph amounted to abuse and was upset with Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
's remark that he hated it. Olympia's father, Professor Robert Nelson, defended the image, saying: "It has nothing to do with
pedophilia
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
. The connection between artistic pictures and pedophilia cannot be made and there is no evidence for it."
Body image
Body image
Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in a number of disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, ps ...
has become a topic explored by many photographers working with models who do not conform to
conventional ideas about beauty.
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, then ...
, after many years photographing conventionally beautiful professional models, realized that he was not capturing individual personalities, so he created a series with women interested in "
Fat Liberation
The fat acceptance movement, also known as fat pride, fat empowerment, and fat activism, is a social movement which seeks to eliminate the social stigma of fatness from social attitudes by pointing out the social obstacles which are faced by f ...
".
Sally Mann's more recent nudes have been of her husband, whose body shows the effects of
muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...
.
Erotic art
Many contemporary artists push the boundaries by having work with both aesthetic qualities and
explicit sexuality. Late in his life
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...
created work that was controversial in part by being on display in Washington, DC in a gallery receiving public funds.
When a Mapplethorpe retrospective opened at the Cincinnati
Contemporary Arts Center
The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is a contemporary art museum in Cincinnati, Ohio and one of the first contemporary art institutions in the United States. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in painting, sculptur ...
in 1990,
Dennis Barrie became the first American museum director to be criminally prosecuted for the contents of an
exhibition
An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...
. Although explicit photos were placed in a separate room with a content warning, Barrie was charged with "pandering obscenity" and showing minors in a state of nudity, but a jury acquitted Barrie and the Arts Center of all charges.
See also
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Depictions of nudity
Depictions of nudity include all of the representations or portrayals of the unclothed human body in visual media. In a picture-making civilization, pictorial conventions continually reaffirm what is natural in human appearance, which is part of ...
References
Further reading
General
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* Bertolotti, Alessandro, ''Books of nudes'', Abrams, 2007.
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Visual arts genres
Nude art