Nude ,2008
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Note : In this cheerful painting with its bright sunshine yellow and fleshy pinks, Robert Hodgins challenges every assumption we may nurture about art. By placing the figure four-square in the centre of the format with her large feet resting comfortably on the frame, he questions accepted art conventions of the nude. Rather than being arrayed for visual delectation in an impossible pose, this woman sits comfortably with her legs spread defying the demure conventions of the classical nude. Neither is this, strictly speaking, a nude in that the woman wears underwear or more correctly, red underpants. Rather than being adorned in skimpy lingerie to show off her décolletage to perfection, her substantial breasts are proudly presented.Since John Berger’s ground-breaking series, Ways of Seeing was first screened on the BBC in 1972 and published as a book, his critique of Western cultural aesthetics has revolutionized the way we look at art. Berger raised pertinent questions around representations of the human body – and especially women’s bodies – at a time when issues around body politics were being explored and contested. Within the history of the nude, Hodgins’ Nude is a contemporary depiction of a naked woman rather than a classical nude, making this a vital work that questions accepted norms both in art as well as in sexual relations.
Emma Bedford
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