Understanding and Analyzing the Nude

Understanding and Analyzing the Nude

The issue of the nude and how one is to perceive or should perceive him, but more specifically her. Men have often been the nude subject to many artists. If displayed with a large presence the man is implied to have power or is to be admired. When the male nude is depicted with a lesser presence than the man has not as much to offer. However, with the female nude, many other factors are put into play. The female nude is analyzed differently if another man is also in her presence, if other females are in her presence, if she is staring at the viewer, if she is unaware of the viewer, if she is naked or nude, or if she is addressing her own identity. Each scenario offers a different interpretation to the meaning of the artwork.

Women aware of the social pressures they inhibit, and therefore are persistently speculating themselves. The image of a woman's self is always in her mind and is expressed in her actions and mannerisms. The chapter further explains the thought process of the woman being split in two. The woman acknowledges the "surveyor" and the "surveyed" which are separate, but are both important aspects of who she is. I would have to completely agree, that even in our modern society, women are very careful to analyze themselves and the people around them. They separate both of these ideas, but are affected by both ideas. Women are curious as to how they are perceived by others especially to men.

When an artwork exhibits a woman in the presence of a man, the juxtaposition of the two must be analyzed differently. The man offers the idea of what he is able to offer for her or to her. Furthermore, it is stated "Men survey women before treating them" (46). They results concluded by the man then translate into how she will be treated by him. As a defense women must with hold or "interiorize" themselves and the result of this is a woman's sense of pressure. The minimal way of saying this would be that "men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at." (47).

The meaning of an artwork in which the woman subject is aware of the viewer gives a new understanding to the piece. The painting by Tintoretto titled Susannah and the Elders depicts a woman is being bathed in the presence of other women and in the upper right corner peaks a group of men looking at her through a window. This shows how she is not naked as she sees her self but rater, as the "spectators" see her. She is aware of their company but is relaxed and appears to be comfortable with the situation. Another painting of Susannah by Tintoretto shows the woman looking at herself in a mirror. The symbol of a mirror has often been used to express vanity. Yet the text makes a very good point that, from the position of the painter, it is very hypocritical to paint a nude woman