In the fifth chapter of Cynthia Freeland's work, But Is It Art?, the feminist art world is briefly explored , with particular attention given to the “Guerilla Girls,” a group of women artists who banded together in 1985 to protest sexism in the art world. In a 1989 ad titled "How Women Get Maximum Exposure," the Guerilla Girls depict a nude woman wearing a gorilla mask, writing alongside her that "Less than 3 percent of artists in the Modern Art section are women, but 83% of nudes are female. »Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay How have men historically chosen to depict female nudes, and why? What social significance do these works of art carry? When is a female role model represented with respect and when is she objectified? How have contemporary female artists responded to historical depictions of the female nude? Are these artists simply trying to reinvent the wheel or are they setting an important milestone in the canon of the female nude? Throughout this article, I will briefly recount historical male depictions of the female nude and analyze the social implications of these works; I will then examine the feminist recovery of the female nude as presented by contemporary female artists. First of all, we must observe the Western artistic tradition of the female nude painted by men. This trend dates back to 350 BCE, when the Greek sculptor Praxiteles of Athens created the original Aphrodite of Cnidus, which became the first fully nude cult statue of a goddess. Unfortunately, the original has not survived, but numerous copies were created throughout the Greek and Roman eras, such as The Capitoline Venus, from the 2nd or 3rd century. BCE, and The Venus of Medici, from the 1st century. before our era. All these statues represent the Greek goddess of love named Aphrodite in Greek and Venus in Latin. In them, Venus exudes vulnerability, sexuality and modesty at the same time. She covers her breasts and pubes without much success, the rest of her naked body being brazenly displayed. This paradoxical representation reflects a number of Greek and Roman sexist ideals, in that male sculptors created a woman who could be fetishized, but who did not own her display; who exemplifies the beauty standards of her time, but still hides modestly; who gazes fixedly into space; who bears no distinguishing marks of who she is, other than a beautiful woman. This pose became so common in ancient Greece and Rome that it earned its own name: the Venus pudica pose, in which an idealized woman is depicted covering her pubic area, and sometimes her breasts, with one or both hands. This model of a vulnerable woman, as depicted by exclusively male artists, will evolve and develop a certain personality over time, but her old feelings of misogyny and objectification remain. The Renaissance era offers perhaps the most common use of the Venus pudica pose in the form of Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. Although this work offers some slight variations on the pre-feminist female nude, as Venus looks boldly at the viewer, the key elements of the historical female nude persist: hand covering the pubis, hand covering the breasts, vulnerability, modesty, hint of sexuality. Other artists of the 16th century. CE offers similar variations of the Venus pudica, as in Giorgione's Sleeping Venus and Titian's Venus of Urbino. These and other works marked the beginningof the “Reclining Venus” trend, which retains almost all the characteristics of the Venus pudica while representing the reclining woman. The “Reclining Venus” persists throughout the Renaissance and in 19th century art. , in which works like Manet's Olympia and Cabanel's The Birth of Venus were added to the canon of the female nude. Here, the woman is a little more subjective and a little less modest, as in Olympia's delicate accessories and in The Birth of Venus. completely uncovered form. However, the woman remains objective, idealized and clearly displayed to the viewer, with the artist showing little concern for the personality or self-esteem of the female figure. In the 20th century, works such as Matisse's The Blue Nude and Klimt's The Reclining Nude, Prone and Facing Right exhibit some variations, but still adhere to the demands of the objectified female nude. However, we must not forget that these are still works of art created by male artists, at a time when female artists and women in general faced enormous misogyny in society. Furthermore, are the social ideas conveyed by these works radically different from those presented by Botticelli or Giorgione's Venus? The answer is no, because the works prioritize the objective, idealized female form over a subjective, humanized woman. Continuing, I will briefly depart from my art historical summary to discuss philosopher Shaun Gallagher's theory of the body. When I talk about objectification and subjective bodies, an idea of ​​what it means to be a person with a body is essential; Diana Meyers introduces Gallagher's ideas in her introduction to her "Feminist Reflections on the State of the Art." Gallagher proposes that the body consists of both body image, which is the individual's visual appearance and unique perception, and body schema, which is "a system of sensorimotor abilities that function without consciousness nor the need for perpetual surveillance. » Body schema is an umbrella term for all of the cognition, virtue, versatility, and memory that a person holds and acts with. Body theory applies to the nude in art, as male artists tend to strip female models of their body image and body schema. Venus looks at nothing because she has no pattern requiring focused sight, appears beautiful but shows no indication of being conscious of her body image, poses nude but covers herself because she is vulnerable with her lack of property. Furthermore, the Venus bears no scars, blemishes, or other distinctive marks on her body that would make her a subjective person or prove that she lived. Simply put, the female figure in art is objectified when it is clear that she does not own herself, but belongs to the male gaze of the artist and her viewers. How have contemporary female artists reacted to this? Feminist artists of the 1990s and 2000s added a wealth of female nudes to the art world, but these works differ greatly from their predecessors. Diana Tietjens Meyers presents the nudes of Jenny Saville as the antithesis of the historical female nude, and for good reason; Saville's nudes of obese, distorted, and otherwise exaggerated women stand in stark contrast to the restraint of the venus pudica models. For example, Saville's Hem depicts a naked overweight woman in a low perspective looking down at her. The figure has patchy pubic hair, rolls of fat on his stomach, and an unpleasant expression; Yet the dynamic figure commands attention and appears completely in control, showing off her body without any idea of ​​it..