On the Nude

This book provides a timely reappraisal of one of the most enduring subjects in the history of art - the naked body. Beginning with reflections on what denuding entails and means, the volume then shifts to a consideration of body politics in the context of Black political empowerment, disability, and queer and Indigenous politics of representation. Themes including the animal nude, the male nude, and nudity in childhood are also considered. The final section examines the nude from the perspective of the artist and the artist's model. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, comparative literature, cultural studies, gender studies, queer studies, screen studies, and trans studies.

Nicholas Chare is Professor of Art History at the Université de Montréal, Canada. Ersy Contogouris is Assistant Professor of Art History at the Université de Montréal, Canada.

- On the Nude: Addressing Old and New Perspectives Nicholas Chare and Ersy Contogouris Part 1: On Denuding - The Dagenham Idol: A Neolithic Wooden Figurine Denuded Nicholas Chare and Nathanael Price - Poking Out 'the Soft Part': The Raw and the Cooked Body in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover Maria Margaroni - Discursive Blurring in Representations of Classical Rapes and Abductions Ersy Contogouris - Writing and Nudity: Nelly Arcan and Vanessa Beecroft's Girls Martine Delvaux Part 2: Body Politics and the Nude - Images of Solace: Looking beyond Violence in Cassils's Art I. Milan Cail - S[H]E: Black Body Politics and Gender Lisa E. Farrington - Un-shaming the Greenlandic Female Body: The Indigenous Nude in Performance Art Kirsten Thisted - Watching One's Back: Self-Portraits of Disabled Women's Backs as Provocative and Protective Ann Millet-Gallant Part 3: Photography and the Nude - Nan Goldin's Sag Harbor Pictures Emma Wilson - Creating a Space and a (Visual) Language in the Work of Laura Aguilar Ann Marie Leimer - The Animal Nude: Pony Play and Deborah Bright's Being & Riding Valérie Bienvenue and Nicholas Chare Part 4: The Male Nude - Queeriosity: Does Hair Have a Gender? Around Del LaGrace Volcano, Daniela Comani, Katarzyna Kozyra, Ana Mendieta, and Cindy Sherman Frédérique Villemur - Art, Aesthetics, and Male Genitalia Richard Leppert - Imperfect Beauty: Nudity, Classicism, Race, and Homoerotic Desire in the Male Nudes of George Dureau James Smalls Part 5: On Being Nude - A Short Story About a Big Healing (Extracts) Joanna Frueh - Looking beyond the Image: Cassils in Conversation with Nicholas Chare and Ersy Contogouris Cassils - Ways of Connecting with the Secret World behind the Life Model: Sarah R. Phillips in Conversation with Nicholas Chare and Ersy Contogouris Sarah R. Phillips - Notes Introducing '(Unfinished) Soliloquy of a Nude' Kathleen G. Williamson - (Unfinished) Soliloquy of a Nude Joanna Frueh Joanna Frueh