ABSTRACT

This book provides a timely reappraisal of one of the most enduring subjects in the history of art – the naked body.

Beginning with reflections on what denuding entails and means, the volume then shifts to a consideration of body politics in the context of Black political empowerment, disability, and queer and Indigenous politics of representation. Themes including the animal nude, the male nude, and nudity in childhood are also considered. The final section examines the nude from the perspective of the artist and the artist’s model.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, comparative literature, cultural studies, gender studies, queer studies, screen studies, and trans studies.

chapter 1|20 pages

On the Nude

Addressing Old and New Perspectives

part I|56 pages

On Denuding

chapter 2|19 pages

The Dagenham Idol

A Neolithic Wooden Figurine Denuded

chapter 3|14 pages

Poking Out ‘the Soft Part’

The Raw and the Cooked Body in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

chapter 5|10 pages

Writing and Nudity

Nelly Arcan's and Vanessa Beecroft's Girls

part II|52 pages

Body Politics and the Nude

chapter 6|12 pages

Images of Solace

Looking beyond Violence in Cassils's Art

chapter 7|17 pages

S[h]e

Black Body Politics and Gender

chapter 8|11 pages

Un-shaming the Greenlandic Female Body

The Indigenous Nude in Performance Art

chapter 9|11 pages

Watching One's Back

Self-Portraits of Disabled Women's Backs as Provocative and Protective

part III|44 pages

Photography and the Nude

chapter 10|13 pages

Nan Goldin's Sag Harbor Pictures

chapter 12|18 pages

The Animal Nude

Pony Play and Deborah Bright's Being & Riding

part IV|42 pages

The Male Nude

chapter 13|13 pages

Queeriosity

Does Hair Have a Gender? Around Del LaGrace Volcano, Daniela Comani, Katarzyna Kozyra, Ana Mendieta, and Cindy Sherman

chapter 15|12 pages

Imperfect Beauty

Nudity, Classicism, Race, and Homoerotic Desire in the Male Nudes of George Dureau

part V|37 pages

On Being Nude

chapter 17|16 pages

Looking beyond the Image

Cassils in Conversation with Nicholas Chare and Ersy Contogouris 1

chapter 18|7 pages

Ways of Connecting with the Secret World behind the Life Model

Sarah R. Phillips in Conversation with Nicholas Chare and Ersy Contogouris

chapter 20|2 pages

(Unfinished) Soliloquy of a Nude