Nude photography

Nude photography is the creation of any

The exhibition or publication of nude photographs may be controversial, more so in some cultures and countries than in others, and especially if the subject or viewer is a minor.

Educational

Nude photographs may be used for scientific and educational purpose, such as ethnographic studies, human physiology or sex education. In this context, the emphasis of the photograph is not on the subject, or the beauty or eroticism of the image, but on the educational or demonstrative purpose for which the image was produced.

The nude image may be used for analysis or to accompany medical or other text books, scientific reports, articles or research papers.^[1] They are essentially of an illustrative nature, and so nude photographs of this type are often labeled to show key features in a supporting context.

Commercial

Erotic

Since the first days of photography, the nude was a source of inspiration for those that adopted the new medium. Most of the early images were closely guarded or surreptitiously circulated as violations of the social norms of the time, since the photograph captures real nudity. Many cultures, while accepting nudity in art, shun actual nudity. For example, even an art gallery which exhibits nude paintings will typically not accept nudity in a visitor.

Glamour

Glamour photographs emphasize the subject, usually female, in a

Nudity and sexually suggestive imagery is common in modern-day culture and widely used in advertising to help sell products. A feature of this form of advertising is that the imagery used typically has no connection to the product being advertised. The purpose of such imagery is to attract the attention of a potential customer or user. The imagery used may include nudity, actual or suggestive, and glamour photography.

Entertainment

Nude or semi-nude imagery is also widely used in entertainment, sometimes referred to as adult entertainment. This may be in the form of

Covers of mainstream magazines sometimes include images of nude or semi-nude subjects. In the early 1990s,

Music album covers often incorporate photography, at times including nude or semi-nude images. Album covers that have incorporated nudity have included those of performers such as Jimi Hendrix (Electric Ladyland, 1968), John Lennon and Yoko Ono (Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, 1968), Nirvana, Blind Faith (Blind Faith, 1969), Scorpions (Virgin Killer, 1976) and Jane's Addiction (Nothing's Shocking, 1988). The covers for Blind Faith and Virgin Killer were especially controversial because the nude images were of prepubescent girls, and were re-issued with alternative covers in some countries.

Fine art

The emphasis of

• Durieu/Delacroix
• 
  Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, part of a series made with Eugène Delacroix
• 
  Odalisque (1857) by Eugène Delacroix, a painting with similar pose
• 
  Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, c. 1855

19th century

Early fine-art photographers in

• Historical images
• 
  Nude by Gaudenzio Marconi, 19th century
• 
  Nude by Gaudenzio Marconi, 1841–1885
• 
  Adam and Eve by Frank Eugene, taken 1898, published in Camera Work no. 30, 1910

Modern

After

The distinction between fine art and glamour is often one of marketing, with fine art being sold through galleries or dealers in limited editions signed by the artist, and glamour photos being distributed through mass media. For some, the difference is in the gaze of the model; glamour models look into the camera, while art models do not.[15] Glamour and fashion photographers have aspired to fine-art status in some of their work. One such photographer was Irving Penn, who progressed from Vogue magazine to photographing fashion models such as Kate Moss nude. Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and Annie Leibovitz^[16] have followed a similar path with portraits of the famous, many of them nude^[17] or partially clothed.^[18] In the post-modern era, where fame is often the subject of fine art,^[19] Avedon's photo of Nastassja Kinski with a python, and Leibovitz's magazine covers of Demi Moore pregnant and in body paint have become iconic. The work of Joyce Tenneson has gone the other way, from fine art with a unique, soft-focus style showing women at all stages of life to portraiture of famous people and fashion photography.

Although nude photographers have largely worked within established forms that show bodies as sculptural abstractions, some, such as Robert Mapplethorpe, have created works that deliberately blur the boundaries between erotica and art.

Several photographers have become controversial because of their nude photographs of underage subjects.^[20] David Hamilton often used erotic themes.^[21][22][23] Sally Mann was raised in rural Virginia, in a locale where skinny-dipping in a river was common, so many of her most famous photographs are of her own children swimming in the nude.^[24] Less well-known photographers have been charged as criminals for photos of their own children.^[25]

Body image has become a topic explored by many photographers working with models whose bodies do not conform to the largely universal perceptions of beauty.^[26]

See also

• Nude photography (art)
• Nude (art)
• Depictions of nudity
• Fine-art photography
• Glamour photography
• Erotic photography model

References