Thoughts on Language of the Nude exhibition at Cooley Gallery

The conventions for depicting the human body have changed through time just as sexual conventions and morality have changed. Most of the work (except for the model exercises in the French section) in the exhibition focused on representing mythical/religious figures or events. Depicting gods, goddesses, cherubs, or angels for which nudity was a natural state of being. To depict an actual known person contemporary to the times would never have been acceptable.

The impact of ancient Greek and Roman artworks was, to me, quite evident. Of course, many of the gods and goddesses often used as subjects were of ancient Greek and Roman origin. Modern depictions of the nude still owe much to the ancient Greek and Roman forms—we continue to prize the idealized human figure.

The United States remains a country with a paradoxically adolescent and prudish view of nudity and sexuality. Images of half naked people are often used to titillate and entice for marketing purposes. Yet a half second view of a nipple on prime-time television led to immediate action by the FCC, and a widespread debate about indecency on television.