Anuradha Sroha 18 July min Read. Nudity in art first became significant in ancient Greece. The athletic competitions at religious festivals celebrated the male body as an embodiment of all that was best in humanity. While the female nude was a symbol of procreation and fertility, male nudity was associated with triumph, glory, and moral excellence. Let us look at some of the best male bodies in art history! Annibale Carracci — was an Italian painter, famous in Bologna and Rome.
The Nude in Love
Object details
As restrictions ease, the number of visitors to the RA is increasing. Find out what plans are in place to make your visit safe and comfortable. Thomas Stothard RA, Standing male nude viewed from the back, c. Pencil with pen and brown ink on brown laid paper.
RECEIVE OUR AWARD WINNING EMAILS & ENJOY 10% OFF YOUR FIRST PURCHASE
The male nude in art is not as often talked about as its female counterpart. However, apart from being easy on the eye, the male body in art is full of history and has undergone a host of fascinating transformations over the past years. Dagli Orti. Athlete, Roman copy after an original by Polykleitos fl. Our first stop on this quick tour is Ancient Greece. Spanning several centuries, the art of the Ancient Greeks is hard to summarise, but it certainly shows an increasing tendency towards lifelikeness. The Greeks imagined their gods to look like perfect humans, and so the images of these deities have an idealising quality that carried through to other subjects too.
By Artspace Editors. Historically made to embody strength, power, and virility, the male nude can also evoke beauty, vulnerability, and sexual intrigue. As we discussed with the photography critic Philip Gefter , these images of the body have the potential to challenge taboos around male eroticism and identity , paving the way for future explorations of what it means to be male. This list, excerpted from Phaidon 's new book Body of Art , includes examples from monumental 17th century chalk drawings and Enlightenment-era scientific models to contemporary hyperrealistic sculptures—all proudly owning their nakedness.
