Gothchyld's Diary

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01 February 2008 @ 10:42 p.m.

It's been a long time, almost an era before I last logged onto diaryland. As you may all know, I have turned into an art fanatic and decided to use some part of diaryland as my playground for art writings. So here it goes:

NB: This is PG rated because of nudity content. Since I don't have a strong knowledge on Medieval and modern art, I will have to exclude examples in those periods.

The context of nudity between Renaissance and East Asian contemporary art

Nudity is significant throughout history, as a means to continue a generation, to represent religious contexts and to satisfy one's pleasures. However, where nudity is regarded as a noble form of visual art in the Western world since Renaissance, it was considered a taboo in East Asia until the 19th century.

In this article, I would focus on nudity through three perspectives: religious significance, cultural contexts and links with the nobility.

In the West, nudity serves representation of realism and godly beauty. For instance in Greek religion, this is used to illustrate 'ideal' and 'godly' beauty, for instance Botticelli's 'Venus and Mars', Venus is unusually clothed. Yet, we see Mars's muscular ripples of chest and stomach muscles, and widened legs. From that, we can allude to Venus's successful sexual conquest of Mars, where his widened legs hint to sexual erection. It also represents Venus's role as Goddess of Love. It should also be noted that in the Greek religion, birth of Gods and Goddesses, and even sexual scandals are common.*

Yet,in Asia, the religious context is much different. Almost all Gods, Goddesses and deities are clothed, and sometimes their attire represents symbols showing their enlightenment and divinity. In the exceptional case of Zanabazar's "White Tara", the semi naked deity is supernatural with her slender waist and protruding chest, where her thin proportions and round breasts present an ideal, god like beauty that distinguishes her celestial qualities.

Further, being painted is almost an exclusive luxury of the nobles. Although I am unsure if Titian's "Venus of Urbino" is indeed a noble, but the exposure of her soft nipples and chest, and swirling hair, it commemorates her in a beautiful form, represented by the proportionate human anatomy of hers. If she is clothed, however, it appears that we cannot appreciate her physical, natural attraction and only remember her superficially with a status.

On the other hand, with the ideals of prudery, East Asian nobles associate themselves with power and status. For instance, a portray of Qianlong Emperor would showcase his power with the heavenly motifs, such as sun and dragon on his robes, and demonstrate his godly status as the emperor of the world. Thus, like the west, their clothes emphasize their hierarchy, such as the delicately woven silk robes of Emperors. Further, with continuous feudal wars, emperors portray themselves with such motifs to consolidate power and produce 'proganda', asserting themselves as the rightful rulers.

So what caused this modern shift? Perhaps modern culture did justice? Or not. Asia has been a prudent continent, where nudity is explicit, and associated with society dregs, such as prostitution. Of course, that doesn't prevent the Emperor from having 20 concubines and bedding all of them. But, nudity would be something too explicit, that taint the prudery ideals, and too intimate to portray.

It wasn't until 19th century, when it seems that openness to the West leads to the idea that nudity is essential in "fostering a healthy relationship with the body." Thus begins a series of paintings, such as Le Pho's "portrait of a nude woman." Perhaps they realized that openness is better than being a taboo.

*Note: I exclude pornography since it seems to twist this experience of nudity.

*On Greek religions, see Homer's Odyssey and I referenced from a Chinese encyclopedia on Greek history.

*On Christianity: this form seems essential to portray the originality and realism of humankind, e.g. Adam and Eve. 

 

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