From 1889 to 1914 nude spectacles increased at an astonishing rate
as a result of burgeoning artistic experimentation, the
commercialization of the female body, and the rise of urban
nightlife. In particular, artists' balls and music halls provided
creative spaces in which women, artists, impresarios, and the
illustrated press could cast the natural body as a source of sexual
pleasure, identity, and reform. Emphasizing the role of erotic
entertainment as an outlet and agent of modern sensibilities,
Uncovering Paris: Scandals and Nude Spectacles in the Belle
A0/00poque offers a fresh approach to important topics of the
period- Bohemian artists, the New Woman, and press censorship- and
reinterprets them through the lens of la femme nue. Having
inherited her name from the pictorial female Nude and the Nude's
real-life counterpart, the artist's model, la femme nue operated as
a screen onto which various groups projected their artistic drives,
sexual desires, monetary interests, and cultural anxieties. A
struggle to define pornography and art, freedom and censorship, and
public and private spheres ensued among artists, theater directors,
and moral leagues as a century-long tradition of equating
civilization with clothing broke down in the face of performative
challenges. In posing, singing, acting, and dancing in naturalist
presentations, the artist's model-turned-erotic entertainer
engendered crises in ways of seeing the female body that
contributed to and was indicative of a changing moral climate
within which women were accorded more freedom to corporeally
express themselves. Once denigrated and denounced as a sign of
vulgar working-class sexuality, the revelation of female flesh
became an integral aspect of twentieth-century French body culture.
Drawing upon a range of colorful commentaries, dramatic debates,
and evocative photos, Lela F. Kerley highlights the importance of
nudity in the redrawing of moral boundaries as she uncovers key
moments that amounted to a ""culture war"" in the years leading up
to World War I. Through an investigation of street riots, court
cases, and anti-pornography campaigns, Uncovering Paris offers an
interdisciplinary approach to the scholarship on Belle A0/00poque
sexual politics and a rich glimpse into the social construction of
morality in Belle A0/00poque France.
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