Below the provocative, typically mordant title - guaranteed to draw
stares in public - Hollander has written a learned, amusing,
exhaustive history of Western art and the changing fashions of
being human in it: "the accepted contemporary look not of chic, not
of ideal perfection, but of natural reality." "The eye always tends
unconsciously to confirm the connection between figures in pictures
and the real look of other people," is her thesis, and to pictures
and statues she goes in depth, though literary descriptions of
dress and theatrical style are not overlooked. Hollander focuses on
certain traditional tensions, such as the rivalry of un-clothed
nakedness with idealized nudity. Even the fashion in the naked body
has changed, from ancient Greece where men were usually portrayed
nude and women never were, to the near contrary in more recent
times, and from the medieval belly as the focus of female
sensuality to the later obsession with breasts and buttocks and the
very recent return to the leg. Clothes, Hollander contends, are
natural to all humanity, the beads of the primitive as important as
the overcoat; and complete bareness is equally unusual and, hence,
significant, in both societies. The functions of costume and the
uses of mirrors are examined; psychology, economics, and religious
ethics come within her scope; and she does not pause until
photography and film have been dealt with. Fascinating, clever, and
chock full of illustrations which will please those put off by the
meaty prose with its acres of theory and proof and the prevailing
sense of the gallery guide. (Kirkus Reviews)
In this generously illustrated book, Anne Hollander examines the
representation of the body and clothing in Western art, from Greek
sculpture and vase painting through medieval and renaissance
portraits, to contemporary films and fashion photography. First
published ahead of its time, this book has become a classic.
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