ⒸBettina Pittaluga/ Magueye, Paris, 2018/ Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska

Written by Katie Grierson

Copy Edited by Hillary Mitchell

Artists have always explored the naked body, whether through paintings, sculpture, photography, or other mediums. In 1485, Botticelli created The Birth of Venus, one of the first nudes to exist untethered to religious symbolism. And as artists have continued to explore them, societal norms have attempted to censor the human form. For instance, Bronzino’s Allegory of Venus and Cupid was retroactively censored in the 19th century, hundreds of years after the art was made. Along with this, the nude body has traditionally been made by men for an audience of men, exemplifying and showcasing the “ideal” female body. However, new ideas of nudity are emerging; some of which are seen at New York’s Fotografiska’s new group show Nude as its artists imagine what the nude is now and what it could be in the future.

ⒸJulia SH/Studio Practice #5 (2017)/ Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska

In Julia SH’s Studio Practice #5, one of the exhibit’s art, three plus-sized women are posed to look like sculptures, their bodies coated in clay and eyes turned from the camera. Holding their poses elegantly, as if doing ballet. They become a work of art; the framing of the photograph and neutrality of the colors reminds us of a museum and where we are viewing the art. The photo is dramatic, stunning, and unlike nude photography seen before. Speaking about the work to Wallpaper, SH says she crafted this piece “in the hope that the viewer will suspend any judgments about whether they find the models sexually attractive or not, or whether their bodies are socially ‘acceptable’”. The objective of Studio Practice #5 is not to display her subjects in a sexually appealing manner or give into conventional definitions of beauty. Instead, it challenges what the nude can be.

ⒸLina Scheynius/Untitled (2013)/ Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska

ⒸLina Scheynius/Untitled (2014)/ Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska

This challenge can be seen throughout the other works on display at Fotografiska which questions and undos the predominantly male centered art form. Nude brings together thirty female-identifying artists from twenty different countries and asks them the same question: what does nude mean to you? Unsurprisingly, their answers are all different. A soft approach can be seen through Lina Scheynius’ photos. Quiet and understated, her contribution to the exhibition contains kissing, a pregnant body, fingers, leaves surrounding genitals. Scheynius documents the world around her, acting as if it is her diary, unapologetically finding the richness of the simple and daily.

Denisse Ariana Perez’s photographs of men strip them of their attachments to what they think masculinity and their identity should be. This snippet of the varied approach is indicative of the large range of artistic styles present in Nude. The artists experimented with the nude, making traditionally underrepresented body types the subjects of their pieces, illuminating the power of nakedness, and taking in the strangeness and loveliness of the human form kindly, and with a sense of wonder. The photos in this exhibition are inventive, startling, tender, and joyful. Nude expels the exclusively male gaze and rejoices in the beauty of the human body.