Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
nudity in art history
examples of Nude renaissance art
history of sexuality in media
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: nudity in art history
Over the years many artist have viewed sensitive subjects within their work. Sex is one of the sensitive subjects that has been viewed in a positive and negative way. Before and during the 19th century, most paintings, sculptures, and art pieces focused on the features of a human's body. During this time, most artist believed that showing these features of a human could show the role a woman and man had in life. Sculptures in early times focused on the body of a man and showed distinctive features from head to toe. Most sculptures were representations of Greek Gods, which showed their strength and power throughout their body. Showing the sexual side of men in art, lead to showing the sexual features of a woman. The sexual features of a woman was shown throughout paintings and sculptures that mostly represented fertility. suppose to symbolize the sexual union between him and the woman. The idea of showing sex in art has been shaped and formed into various perspectives.
In this particular era, the nudity of a human was highly recognized and favored in different art pieces. In paintings, women were naked and covered certain parts of her body. Sculptures would lack the appearance of a woman, but would also show attributes of a female's body. Even though this topic was praised in earlier times, in today's society the topic of sex is looked upon in a negative manner. As time changes, I believe that the viewpoint and mindset of people are completely different from the 19th century point of view. Sex has become a dreadful topic because people are more attached to religious beliefs that doesn't put sex on the high level that it once “ sat” upon in the 19th century. If an artist decided to put some type of nudity or sexual visual ...
... middle of paper ...
...e sexual union between him and the woman. The couple is also wearing jewelry that symbolizes their sexual power and union as a whole. This particular piece of art shows how the physical appearance of a human is not needed to show sexual characteristics. The pieces are completely different in appearance, but the idea of sexual representation is fully shown throughout each piece.
In conclusion, a person will understand that the topic of sex will always have a sensitive notion behind it. A person will also understand that even though sex is a socially sensitive subject, it can have a negative or positive effect. Most artist interpret sexual features into their work because they believe that sex sells and capture a certain sense of energy. Others whom oppose the representation of sex in art, are against it because of personal beliefs and feelings toward the topic.
As time kept passing, more and more magnificent sculptures were made by numerous artists. One of the most memorable sculpture was Aphrodite of Knidos, goddess of love and beauty. Back in the Late Classical Period, the civilians were only used to seeing ideal male nude bodies, but Praxiteles decided to make a different approach and sculpted the first female nude. Because he obviously had never seen a goddess before, he used his imagination and sculpted bathing Aphrodite as humanlike possible. He did not make it look idealistic, but instead made it beautiful with flaws.
...is considered as an art now. I felt that these pornographic images are serves as a medium for spreading a new culture as well, even though some of them are restricted severely.
In the article “An Anthropological Look at Human Sexuality” the authors, Patrick Gray and Linda Wolfe speak about how societies look at human sexuality. The core concept of anthology is the idea of culture, the systems of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors people acquire as a member of society. The authors give an in depth analysis on how human sexuality is looked at in all different situations.
Pornography dates back to the 19th century in the Roman Empire, and eventually spread to other nations leading to outlaws of it. Ultimately, it was abolished, but pornography still managed to be smuggled. Pornography is now legal, to an extent according to age. Presently, there are many people who believe that women are portrayed as objects as opposed to persons when exploited in pornography. Also, that this creates the false impression that these women in pornography are secretly yearning to be raped. Other people, however, would disagree with these ideals and claim that pornography does not exploit women by characterizing them as objects. Some say that there are certain extents to which women are depicted as objects as well as where this
The painting clearly refers to the period of slavery, presenting the unequal roles between black and white individuals. The artists paints the image in a way that both exposes and ridicules the actions of the white man. A black woman being kissed by a white man suggests that she is a slave and therefore in a relationship that was enforced and sexually violent. African American women, as slaves, were subject to the practice of sexual exploitation in the 19th century. Women were treated as property as they were continuously harassed, raped, and beaten by masters as white men with authority took advantage of their slaves. While women were appeared to be consenting to the mistreatment, no safeguards existed in order to protect women from such abuses, and were left with no choice but to engage in sexual activity with their masters. The black man in the image, on the other hand, is subject to being hit, a way of enforcing slavery. The two black figures, are in essence, a form of “luxury” for the white men as the black man is being deprived of his rights by his owner and is used as a tool through work in the fields, while the woman is used as a “luxury” that satisfies her owner through fulfilling the white man’s sexual
Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
Sexuality is a fundamental part of our self-discovery, involving much more than just being genetically or anatomically male and female and it is not defined solely by one 's sexual acts (Ministry of Education 1989, p.79 cited in Gourlay, P 1995). The notion that sexuality is fixed and innate disregards the social aspects that impact ones’ sexualities. Gagnon and Simon (1973) further commented that sexuality is a feature of social
... pornography is just expressing ones self; to others, itþs considered an art form. But studies have shown that this þart formþ is the chief cause of many murders and rapes that occur in the United States. And it doesnþt start with þhard-coreþ. The early stages of erotica are actually the start.
Prior to the 20th century, female artists were the minority members of the art world (Montfort). They lacked formal training and therefore were not taken seriously. If they did paint, it was generally assumed they had a relative who was a relatively well known male painter. Women usually worked with still lifes and miniatures which were the “lowest” in the hierarchy of genres, bible scenes, history, and mythological paintings being at the top (Montfort). To be able to paint the more respected genres, one had to have experience studying anatomy and drawing the male nude, both activities considered t...
With this being said, he also has a dark red cloak draped over his shoulder, representing love, and a brighter face, all showing is dominance throughout the painting. To the right of him sits another man with his back towards the audience, giving off a sense of focus. He is studying a sheet of music so thoroughly, that the audience can clearly see how passionate he is about it. He too is dressed in bright, white clothing, giving off a sense of godliness. In essence, it as if God has given music to man to fulfill and bring joy to life. The contrast of colors between the clothing and the dark background shows that without music, life would be dark. While on the other hand, towards the back of the two musicians, sits an individual with his attention elsewhere. This figure has very little clothing on, wings, and is carrying a bow and arrow, much like Cupid who represents love. This specific figure was placed behind the man with
Certain parts of her body are heavily exaggerated; she has overly huge breast, her stomach is large and as well as her butt. She appears to be smooth and her parts of her body I would consider to be very symmetrical. The artist that created her has chosen to exaggerate her breast and make them appear large and full. As well as they have done with her stomach, by making it appear overly large and to symbolize fertility or a late stage of pregnancy for women. The artist carriers, this plumpness and roundness of the female figure throughout out the stature. The artist has demonstrated plumpness of the female figure through her legs and carries it to her back side as well. The one aspect of this figure the artist had heavily rendered in detail, is the figures female genitalia. The genitalia is heavily rendered to show a female reproductive organs. It’s this aspect of the sculptural nature that makes me think that the artist had created her for fertility reasons.
During the ancient times in Greece, Plato was the first human to document and criticize the existence of art and artists. He mentioned that human art was always in a form of a representation of something else. In one of Plato’s famous works, he demonstrates the idea of art is like an “imitation of nature” (Blocker 3). In other words, the purpose of art was to represent nature and nothing else. Art was not created for the sake of its own self nor was it created to appreciate its own beauty by any means. Instead, art, usually in forms of writings, paintings, or sculptures, was created to only to represent nature, Gods, emperors, families, or other important individuals. Furthermore, Plato had a very critical view towards the existence art in our society because art makes us more emotional, and our emotions lead to many errors about life. He believed it is our rational thinking, not our emotions or senses, which helps us und...
Pornography degrades the moral values of a society. With increased pornography in the contemporary society, sex is no longer a sacred act shared between two people who love each other. Sex has been abused by many people, while there has been an increase in promiscuity (Sabo 150). In addition, the perceptions that people have about sex and women has changed. Women are seen as objects or instruments of sexual satisfaction. They are no longer respected while men expect sexual gratification from acts that can even be termed as beastly. The effects are far reaching as young people as young as 12 years have been fed with the same perception (Peter and Valkenburg 179).
Can art be pornography? Can pornography be art? Does the observer become the judge of what is or is not pornographic, or is the culture in which the images/sculptures/writings originate from the deciding judge? I would argue that only the creator and the original intended viewers of the art or pornography should assign the piece regardless of medium to the classification it is meant to represent.