Perceptions of Nudity essays

Perceptions of Nudity essays As I began my research for this project, I started to think about my own perceptions of nudity, not only in art, but also in society. I have sat through countless hours of Art History lectures and never really considered the vast meaning behind all of the nudity. More than anything, that fact really disturbed me considering I have been studying art extensively for about two years. I have overlooked the most basic subject matter in portraiture and dismissed nudity as just something prevalent in paintings and On the surface, art is what makes the difference between nude and naked. If I see a painting or photograph in a gallery of an unclothed woman, I look past the nakedness and see the beauty in the piece. On the other hand, I find absolutely no appeal in a Playboy or anything of a pornographic nature. However, on a fundamental level, it could be considered the same thing. Just like if an undressed person decided to take a walk outside, they would be arrested. But, if they painted their body and called it art, they have absolutely no problem. John Bergers chapter in Ways of Seeing was, to say the least, enlightening material. Berger describes men and women as opposites that work together in a virtually one sided relationship. Men get their type of life force from a show of power, or how much they can achieve or provide. Women are pretty much an impression, and anything she thinks or feels is merely expressed in her appearance (Berger 46). Men and women fit together like a sentence. Men are the subject and they do something that causes them to interact with the object, or woman. Even though this partial reality is disheartening, it does hold a substantial amount of truth. In many cases, the man would ask a woman to dinner, or a man is the one to be in charge of an entire nation of people because they are believed to have the natural gift for power...