Part of “Vision de Faust”, as available on FineArtAmerica.
Yes. Today I want to focus on nude art for your (and my) home, but not the stuff that will require you to sell your house. Or mine.
We all know that art is an expensive game. Some pieces go for a mere $10.000, others for a LOT more. That’s out of most people’s range.
So how does affordable nude art work?
Basically it’s quite simple. The image above comes from FineArtAmerica. They have lots of replicas that aren’t insanely expensive. A basic print or poster starts at $16. Follow this link and see for yourself. You can also go crazy and order stationary of it, or even a beach towel.
Nude Girl Print
Maybe you’re more into this style, which I also found on FineArtAmerica. (Note that I don’t get commissions, it is just a site I found that has good stuff for very nice prices.)
There are loads of styles for nude art, probably too many to list here, so hop over to there if you feel like browsing of just to get an impression.
Saatchi is where I bought one of my Susannah Martin prints, and I’m overjoyed with it.
Here is a sample of the art I found at Saatchi.
I have the feeling that Saatchi is more expensive than FineArtAmerica but the print I got from them is more than worth it. If you follow this blog or my twitter-feed, you have probably seen the name Susannah Martin quite often. She’s (in my opinion) an exceptional artist who creates amazing painting that are incredibly lifelike but has lots of fantastic/fantasy elements added to them.
Susannah Martin
You bet she deserves her own section in this post. I love the work of Susannah Martin.
Butterfly, by Susanna Martin
Print of her work are more expensive (count on $60 to $100+). It might be because it’s Saatchi – they have high quality standards and expensive paper, but compared to original prices, that is still very acceptable, I think. If you want to own something special and you can afford it, then you get something amazing that looks fantastic.
Of course, there are many other places where you can find nude art, like 1stdibs.com, but I will leave the search for those other places to you.
If you read this far, you are probably interested, and as we all know, Google, Bing and Ecosia are our friends in finding interesting material.
Thank you for your interest. I hope you will find some wonderful art prints. It exists, and as you saw: you don’t have to sell your first-born for a good print.
Paintings have been made since the early days of mankind. For example the cave paintings that were found in France.
Back then no one had any issues with people being depicted naked, dressed, full frontal or in any other way.
How different things are now. Paintings that show nudity can be removed because of the type of visitor showing up in the gallery or museum (remember the horror about Hylas and the Nymphs?)
Nudity in art is of all times
What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful that the garment with which it is clothed?
~ Michelangelo
Painting by Albert von Keller, 1907.
I seriously cannot wrap my mind about the fact that the nude form of people can be the subject of so much debate and controversy even in art.
We all have this one, fine layer that protects us from so much. It’s our skin. Why does that need to be hidden, stashed away as something dirty or unclean?
As you can above, even the great master Michelangelo knew this.
There are only few great, ancient painters that may not have created images of nude people. Also modern painters don’t shy away from that, and with good reason: what more beautiful can they portray than humans in their most humble, natural form?
Found on Pinterest. Origin unknown.
Nudity is honest. Nudity doesn’t hide flaws. Anything not portrayed is up to the discretion and intent of the painter. This is 100% contrary to clothes, where any piece of fabric can and will be used to cover up whatever one wants.
I wonder (actually I don’t!) if the people who despise nudity in art (or anywhere else) carry that conviction from their own experience and will, or if this is all implanted through culture and upbringing.
Ancient times and nude art
Via Wikipedia
The above Egyptian painting shows nude dancers at the tomb of Nembamun. It was painted around 1400 BCE. Nudity was normal back then and no one had a problem depicting something that was normal.
I want to finish this little trip (okay, I admit those are jumps) through the history of nudity in art with this painting of Cleopatra by the Italian Giampietrino, actually Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli. It was created somewhere between 1520 and 1540.
Through the ages, nudity hasn’t posed a problem. Why then, I ask, is the world suddenly churning out so many prudes and sensitive people who pale at the sight or idea of painted skin?
Questions for you.
So now I will leave you with some questions:
What is your favourite painting? I really would like to know. They can be ancient, modern, any style.
Who is your favourite artist?
Do you make paintings? If so, where can we enjoy them?
It’s a fact that naturists appreciate light. Warm light preferably. I thought about that when I found the picture you see up here. As I looked at it I thought that this is a wonderful application of light as well.
I love body painting and this is a form of it, I’d say, with the difference that this painting was done with, indeed, light. Of course I had to go on a hunt for more and it surprised me that most images painted with light incorporate the female form. Men don’t seem to do so well in light and I really wonder why that is.
This image conveys how the male body can look amazing in specific light settings as well.
I admit that not everyone is granted such a nice physique but the idea remains the same.
What do you think about painting with light instead of body paint? Have you noticed it as well? Have you ever tried it?
I think it’s fascinating because this too is something that only works well with the naked, human body.
Trying this with regular clothes, regardless how expensive they are, will never yield the same effect. Or do you know of examples that prove me wrong? In that case I’d love to learn about those.
Yes, you saw that. I like classical music. Not solely that but it’s amazing for me. And the good thing is that there are people who perform classical music in the nude. Alas, they don’t play in most theatres but if you look around there are examples to be found.
For instance there is this: an aria from “Tales of Hoffman” by Jacques Offenbach. This is definitely a complex song to sing and this lady, Abigail Wright, who is a mezzo soprano, took on this song and performed it naked. That’s having guts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDcNNrL-k_I
France has nude performers as well.
This should not be surprising. France has a large amount of naturist places and they’re quite popular. A performance by the Bordeaux National Opera in the nude is therefore not something you should be surprised of. They performed Les Indes galantes, an opera-ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Here is a sample of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AasJ2sOnlI
Not only in the western world.
Japan is known for being eccentric at times. Luckily they also cater to the naturist taste at times. For you: The Japanese Naked Orchestra, with The Nutcracker of Pyotr Iljitsch Tchaikovsky.
Do you know of other nude performers of classical music or performing arts? I know there are plenty of experimental modern performers. It’s the classical ones I am looking for. They break borders…
Yes, you’ve seen this image before. I posted this earlier, before the evening of going to see paintings of Vincent van Gogh. That evening has come and gone, and was enjoyed not only by me but by lots of people.
The idea was fabulous, I think. This year is Vincent van Gogh year in the Netherlands so there are many galleries and exhibitions with his work. One museum in Amsterdam had a set of 200 excellent reproductions on display and the NFN, the Dutch Naturist Federation, had arranged a special opening on Saturday evening for their members and invitees. I don’t know how many people came but I saw plenty of them. And the art was amazing. It was a very special feeling to walk through a museum and look at art when not being dressed, simply because I had never done this before. The space was nice, good for bare feet (even when many people wore slippers or even shoes). The light was great. The paintings and the information with them were amazing in detail, and the several booths with 3D imagery of how certain paintings were made were very entertaining. Not everyone was so thrilled with them, but then people are people. All different.
It was a fantastic experience and I hope that the NFN will be able to organise something like this again. I’m good to go!
Born in 1963 in Liverpool, England, Carl Warner attended the Maidstone College of Art originally for illustration, but soon discovered his true passion was photography. He then transferred to the London College of Printing to focus on photography, film and television.
Carl started out in landscape and still photography, eventually working many years in the advertising industry. Seeking new inspiration and direction, he happened upon a market with Portobello mushrooms that reminded him of trees from an alien world. This would become his first foodscape and the start of a new and exciting direction in his career.
Warner’s foodscapes have garnered international media attention and led to books, interviews and merchandising. The success has allowed Warner to pursue artistic and personal projects like the bodyscape series below.
Rather than food, Warner uses the human form to create fantasy landscapes. Chests, knees, shins and backs form the rolling hills and rocky landscapes in this intriguing series.
It suddenly occurred to me, while watching some old paintings, that nudity in art has been in decline over the last number of decades.Why do I think so? Look at this painting by Rubens:
Many nude people in it, and most people will appreciate this as art. In the time that this painting was made (1606/1608 –source-) no one made any fuss about it.
Then there is this painting, made in 1915 (-source-) by Adolf Heinrich Hansen:
No one, except for the obvious, will have a problem with this scene where a mother and her child are at the beach. These days, when a photograph appears somewhere that shows the same basic image, many people will try to beat each other in shouting ‘child porn’. That’s wrong, as there is no porn in this picture. Just a nude child having a good time at the beach. I’m in Europe. When you go to a beach here you’ll see lots of small children running around naked, and nobody makes a fuss about it.
I’m glad that at least in paintings no censorship is used. Please, look at this and tell me if you think this option is brilliant:
I’m quite convinced that it’s not. So why is harmless nudity (yes, nudity is harmless!) then so often censored in our modern age?
(Indeed, this is not a painting, but photography is a modern art-form.)
It’s all down to the excesses that the porn industry bestowed upon us, and the manners of extreme people that take things much too far. Because of them, the knights of morality put a stamp on anything that shows parts of a body that we ‘should be ashamed of’. Not only the sexually extreme are responsible for this, however. Overall hypocrisy which is often fuelled by religion and other factions also plays a part in it. It’s sad that the world desires so much ‘guidance’ in what’s acceptable in nudity. What happened to the common sense in morals?
I want to finish this little trip (okay, I admit those are jumps) through the history of nudity in art with this painting of Cleopatra by the Italian Giampietrino, actually Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli. It was created somewhere between 1520 and 1540.
This image conveys how the male body can look amazing in specific light settings as well.
