The Female Nude: Art, Obscenity and Sexuality

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Born and raised in Italy, Maria Clara Macrì began to travel the world to meet women from other cultures who, crossing her “lonely path and destiny”, would be willing to take part in her photography projects.

I could see how each of those women had something that resonated with me. Somehow, they were all reflections of myself” – Maria Clara Macrì Would you say that In Her Rooms could encourage people to work on the relationship they have with their own body, ideas, and personality – hence inspiring people to use their quarantine to rediscover themselves – by celebrating the stories and the personalities that are hidden within the walls of those girls’ bedrooms? Representing the human body has been one of the major themes throughout art history since prehistoric times. In fact, among the paintings that have marked history, many are nude paintings of bodies, more specifically naked woman. We can take as an example Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Courbet’s The Origin of the World or Modigliani’s Reclining Nude. The nude genre can be assimilated to a large number of pictorial subjects, the most famous including Matisse and Ingres’ “odalisques”, Renoir’s and Cézanne’s “bathers” or the “Olympia” of Manet and Magritte. She has a pensive look. It is difficult to know what she is thinking about, perhaps she is awakening from a dream? Behind her, the sea is calm with only a few ripples, no storm appears on the horizon and the breeze is gentle.This striking female nude is one of several painted by Amedeo Modigliani between 1916 and 1917. Beyond the reclining figure’s apparent gracefulness and tranquillity, the painting presents a radical reworking of the conventions of figure painting, which still retains some of its original provocation today. It is interesting to compare these two frescoes. Masolino’s Eden is idyllic, Adam and Eve are beautiful and bright. Conversely, in Masaccio’s, Adam and Eve are being terrorized. The difference in the representation of the nude, idealized for one and realistic for the other, highlights the condition of man before and after committing the first sin. 2. Renaissance: Revealing the body On 3 May 2022, London’s Goodman Gallery held a private view for the artist Ghada Amer’s exhibition “My Body My Choice ”. That title was bitterly prescient. Earlier that day, a draft was leaked of a US Supreme Court ruling, showing that Roe v Wade – the landmark 1973 decision conferring the right to abortion – was on the verge of being reversed.

They are raising money for the club after funding was slashed and for Great Britain's Wheelchair Rugby team In 1485, Botticelli became the first artist to paint a female nude without a religious reason. Nothing like it had been seen before in Europe! It is an almost life-size female nude, measuring 172.5 by 278.5 centimetres, and is a representation of Venus who gracefully reveals her body. The event worker from Stevenage added: 'We were looking to fund a charity as well this year and we heard on the radio that Team GB wheelchair rugby lost it's funding and I thought it was wrong.Maria Clara Macrì: Although today the diverse faces of womanhood are being more often recognised and represented in the media, the mainstream conception of women’s image is still dominated by sexualising and objectifying portrayals of the female body. I believe this to be strictly linked to the mentality that lies behind the production of such images, which is largely subordinate to the logic of marketing and profit. In Her Rooms has recently attracted more attention, and I think that that is because the goal of this series was not to sell a product. The project was not inspired by a personal economic gain but by the empathy and solidarity I felt towards all women in the world. The series was born by the passion I put into strongly believing that it is time to finally witness the liberation of women’s bodies and identities. In Her Rooms is a cultural experiment where women are photographed not to please the market, but to raise public awareness of the beauty that characterises every human being. Botticelli was at the height of his career when he painted this picture, at the request of rich patrons, breaking with convention. His Venus is the graceful, elegant nude, far from any sacred and religious claims, far removed from the tradition of the Middle Ages. 3. Mannerism and Rococo: The Libertine Body To avoid censorship, Botticelli folds Venus’ long hair over her genitalia. One of her hands hides a breast, but the other remains visible. Her modesty is barely concealed by these two gestures, which only partially hide her feminine curves. It is a game between what she hides and what she exposes, with this idea introducing an erotic dimension to the painting. Her position is inspired by the ancient “contrapposto” in which one of the legs is stretched out, the other slightly bent. This serves to emphasize her hips and her slender figure. Contrary to more classical portraits where the feet are well anchored to the ground, Venus’ balance appears unstable. Forget puppy dog eyes! Cats have nearly 300 facial expressions, including a 'play face' they share with humans, study finds