2013-10-19

Man As An Object Of Desire. Male Nudes In Art



Man As An Object Of Desire. Male Nudes In Art. Another important article in the weekly section of Maite Rodriguez in Yareah Magazine.



Leopold Museum

From chubby Rubens ladies reclining under tree to Picasso’s jagged Demoiselles d’Avigon, the fairer sex has always taken centre stage when it comes to fine art. It has been quite common for the female nude to be regularly exhibited, however the Musee d’Orsay in collaboration with the Leopold Museum, Vienna aims to rectify this with Masculine: The nude man in Art from 1800 to the Present Day. The exhibition explores the philosophical and sociological approach of the artwork displayed leaving the view with a lighthearted and playful interpretation.



Painting by Joseph Desire Court, 1828

The risqué exhibition will display 200 works of male nudes from as far back as 1800, including a range of techniques: painting, sculpture, graphic arts and, of course, photography. The event has left the curators saying that the “out of favour” male form is finally being given pride of place in one of the world’s greatest museums, challenging out dated taboos. However, male nudity was for a long time, from the 17th to 19th centuries, was the basis of traditional Academic art training and a key element in Western art. The event described by Marie Claire is acclaimed to be the “hottest event” in Paris’ cultural autumn, brings together a plentiful supply of the Musée d’Orsay along with other French public collections including some homoerotic works in the “man as an object of desire” and “the temptation of the male” sections, with works including Jean Cocteau’s Les Amants (The Lovers) and American artist Paul Cadmus’ 1951 The Bath.

On the beach by Edvard Munch, 1915

There are also pictures of Christ and Saint Sebastian, often juxtaposing the old and the contemporary.

The show was inspired by Vienna’s Leopold Museum, which held a male nudes exhibition in autumn 2012 that went viral in January after the organizers pulled the marketing posters from the Austrian capital following complaints. The posters titled Vive la France, 2006, by the French photographers Pierre & Gilles, exposed three nude football players. Local councilors were ordered to cover their private parts with a red triangle, prompting record attendance figures.

Maite Rodriguez online art gallery http://maiterodriguez.es/

The post Man As An Object Of Desire. Male Nudes In Art appeared first on Yareah Magazine.

Related posts:

Sunday Poetry with Jenean C. Gilstrap: river of desire

On Desire. Send your definition to Storefront, NY

Pierce Brosnan. Male Elegance & Style

Show more