Au Naturale: The Nude in Art

Details

When:

Where: The Hampton Inn

Cost: $135.00 for 5 session(s)

Type: In Person

Category:

• Art History
• Humanities Courses

Instructor: co-owner of the Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson’s largest and longest running contemporary art gallery.

A Journey through the Premier Classical Art Subject

Nudes as a genre predate the landscape and the still life in Western art and are a continuing focus of artistic expression and innovation. Naked figures in art exist in a world apart from everyday human nakedness. Instead they represent a tradition of ideals, philosophical and religious concerns and the reflection of culture.

Our lecture series explores the long and unbroken continuum of nude painting and sculpture, from the pre-historic cave drawings of the Stone Age to the accelerating sweep of this Post-Post Modern 21st Century. Follow the path of this important and complex art tradition in a sequence of sessions as we trace the nude through the centuries and consider a wide range of topics: celebration of the human body, athleticism and prowess, sexuality and fertility, mythology and religion, perfection, distortion and the attitudes towards the depiction of humans undressed.

Presented in 4 classroom sessions and a field trip session to the University of Arizona where we will take special tours of the U/A Museum of Art collection of original nude prints and the Center For Creative Photography’s collection of fine art nude photography. Guest speakers at the classroom sessions will include collectors, artists, gallerists, art teachers, museum curators and other experts.

Week 1: Introduction: Outline of nudes in art history followed by a survey of prehistoric fertility figures and nudes of the ancient civilizations, Egypt & Mesopotamia

Week 2: Classical nudes of Greece, Rome and the early Christians to the Middle Ages.

Week 3: The Renaissance period nudes.

Week 4: At the University of Arizona Museum of Art and the Center for Creative Photography. Presentation by Tucson artist Barbara Rogers on her controversial male nude painting in the UA/MA collection.

Week 5: Nudes of the Post Renaissance – Early/Late Modern