Victorians and the Nude

The degree of nudity tolerated in society vary according to culture. In the Victorian context: Illicit photographic images, “academic” oil studies and large paintings where all know to have been titled nude. There was a fundamental distinction between the nude and the naked. The nude was invariably edited: genitalia hair and body hair were eliminated. Drapes

were often added. The female nude had to be presented doing something “appropriate”, but had to be shown active. Photography’s emergence in the Victorian era paved the way for the social protocols to change; there was now an easy, accessible way for a woman to gaze upon a man without it being shameful.

(Photograph used: Hylas and the Nymphs, by John William Waterhouse, Manchester City Galleries. NB Pre-Raphaelite artist William Waterhouse's “Victorian Nudes” are today considered a sort of “soft-pornographic”art).

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