The Human Subject and Humanism
“The nude is an art form invented by the Greeks in the fifth century BC, just as opera is an art form invented in seventeenth-century Italy.”
– Kenneth Clark
Mastering the Human Form
The human figure can be idealized and perfected beauty as in classical Greek sculpture and Renaissance painting or it can be a more realistic kind of beauty or personal expression. It can also be everything in between. The body has an infinite range of expression. It is a vehicle or language or as quoted above an art form unto itself. It can express ideal beauty, it can express erotic passion, it can express movement and energy, it can express pathos, it can even express philosophical ideas. We identify with the body more than anything else in life.
When I made the decision to become a professional artist, I felt the first thing to do is to master as much as I am able the technical skills and knowledge that are the heritage of art history. I felt I needed to teach myself to draw the figure like a Renaissance master and paint like Rubens. My first task was to master drawing and painting competently the human figure. That I thought that was the ultimate test and must be mastered first before I could regard myself as an artist. I was not interested in contemporary art because I was not ready for it. I was not conscious at the time that I would remain a figurative painter, I only felt that I must master this style of painting before I could consider any other styles.
I understood that the mastery of depicting the human form as a requirement for me as an artist, but of course the more I learned about painting the figure the more my awareness of the significance of the human figure grew. The human form as subject is about humanity. We engage the world with and through our bodies. Painting or looking with intensity at the nude human form is an act of contemplation on what it means to be human.
The History of the Nude in Art
The Kenneth Clark quote at the top of this page pays tribute to the Greeks creation of the ideal nude as a form of art, but they were not the first to depict the nude human figure. Some of the first representations of the human figure appeared about 30,000 years ago in Central Europe. Two of the most famous are the Venus of Willendorf from what is now Austria and the Věstonická Venuše from what is now the Czech Republic. They are sculptures and they are both female nudes. They were probably not intended as sculpture as we understand sculpture today, but they were probably part of some kind of fertility rites. Nonetheless this is how far back our interest in the nude female form goes.
The Classic Ideal Nude
This is the nude perfected by the Greeks and passed on to the Italian Renaissance and then subsequent generations of artists. It is the nude of Michelangelo and Raphael. A figurative artist should master the techniques and understanding of these designs even if this artist is a strict realist or expressionist in their treatment of the nude. This depth of knowledge will give a foundation or perhaps a foil to all other renderings of the nude.
Since the 19th century painters have not seemed to depict the classic ideal nude in their work. However, the influence of the classic nude does appear in modern works by artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Balthus and others.
The Nude of Sensuality
The mastery of the nude human figure was my first concern. I studied and copied carefully the classical antique nudes as well as the nudes in Renaissance painting to acquire the skill. I did not want to paint the idealized nude, but I wanted to learn about it. I knew my figures needed to be more realistic and contemporary. An honest realism, not idealized realism, leads to the tactile representation to the surface of the skin and the sensation of a real physical body. This consequently often will emphasize the eroticism of the nude. I considered this to be realistic and contemporary. The erotic element usually incites some controversy in the general public, but much that is interesting in modern painting will also do that. Lucien Freud demonstrated that harsh realism and eroticism could create powerful paintings.
I did not want ideal 19th century classicism, but I wanted strong modern realism. I was at this time under the influence of the work of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. They were the early modern figure painters with whom I could identify. I was also at this time drawn to the general culture of decadent fin-de-siècle Vienna. The bold modernism and freedom from bourgeois values represented by Klimt and Schiele I thought a path worth pursuing. I wanted to astound, not necessarily shock, but make people look. The nude human body is often erotic and it is sometimes difficult to hide this eroticism. I did not want to. I did a series of female nudes related to the subject of Salomé. The inspiration was Gustave Moreau as well as Klimt. I wanted the strong sensuality of color and texture in both fabrics and tactile qualities of flesh and paint. The painterly flesh qualities derived from historical tradition of Rubens.
I was, of course, developing this painting style at the same time as Feminist criticism of the female nude in art was being written about and discussed. I was aware of the ideas about objectifying women and the male gaze. I took these points, but I did not think they were universally true or complete when applied to the history of western art. I had developed deep and complex aesthetic reasons for the way I painted and felt the political arguments did not always consider other ways of seeing or embracing art.
The Meaning of the Nude Human Figure at Present
Currently, it seems the professionals active in the art world have adoptive new ways of seeing and thinking about art other than what I just presented as my own. Whether this shift is permanent or at least long term, we cannot yet know. It has not much affected my convictions about the nude in art history. It has probably affected my expectations of profession recognition at present, but that cannot be influenced much by me.
The new definition of art seems to be that it should concern itself essentially with political statements and to aim at social change. The arguments and explanations about aesthetics, I think are now consider old-fashioned and largely ignored. However, my exposition above about the significance of the human figure in art I think is hard to ignore mainly because it is about humanism and not political ideas. I am sure people are naturally drawn to images of the human figure and beauty unless they are told not to be. Admiration of the beautiful human form is part of life. Eroticism like humor enriches life. The nude human figure express movement, energy, and passion as well as beauty. All these qualities that the nude human figure offers are, I think, essentially life enhancing and life affirming.