"To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen as naked to others and yet not recognized for oneself (54)."
Museums can inspire, change, guide, or teach you. They create an informal learning environment that is aesthetically pleasing, which can allow someone to comprehend and appreciate concepts of art more deeply. I recently visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art and not only was I very much inspired by what I saw, but I felt like I had finally began to understand some of the theories that John Berger describes in Ways of Seeing. In this book, chapter 3 to be exact, Berger explains to the reader what his interpretation of "naked" vs. "nude" truly is. To his understanding these two concepts are completely different, though you may be wondering how they could differ at all. As Berger puts it in the quote mentioned above, when the naked person is viewed in an objective way, simply because they are naked, they are actually nude because there is some suggestion due the fact that they are naked. This also means that "nudity is a form of dress (54)."
Burger further explains that in European oil paintings, the "principle protagonist" is never actually in the photo. Rather, he is assumed to be the viewer of the photo and everything about the nudity of the photo is to be addressed to him, it is for him--and it is always a him. When I first read this idea of nude vs. naked, I understood what Burger meant. But to be honest, I wasn't convinced as to what he was saying. How could an intentional way of being naked turn you into something else? When I visited the art museum, it really all came together. The connections in burgers ideas compared to the paintings I spend hours trying to understand were jumping out at me in a way I didn't imagine upon my arrival to the museum. I found myself in the museum surrounded my photos that were so obviously meant for the man's eye. Sure- they were beautiful to the eye no matter man or woman, but they sure appealed to his desires of a "naked" woman.
Burger further explains that in European oil paintings, the "principle protagonist" is never actually in the photo. Rather, he is assumed to be the viewer of the photo and everything about the nudity of the photo is to be addressed to him, it is for him--and it is always a him. When I first read this idea of nude vs. naked, I understood what Burger meant. But to be honest, I wasn't convinced as to what he was saying. How could an intentional way of being naked turn you into something else? When I visited the art museum, it really all came together. The connections in burgers ideas compared to the paintings I spend hours trying to understand were jumping out at me in a way I didn't imagine upon my arrival to the museum. I found myself in the museum surrounded my photos that were so obviously meant for the man's eye. Sure- they were beautiful to the eye no matter man or woman, but they sure appealed to his desires of a "naked" woman.
"She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life (46)."
This photo was, for me, a really thorough example of nude vs. naked as Berger would want me to understand it. This painting is oil on canvas, and was painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1905, and in the Philadelphia museum of art it is displayed with numerous other nudes of women. The reason I point this photo out specifically is because it suggests that this woman is the object of the viewer rather than being there for her own existence. Also, she is aware of they fact that she is being surveyed therefore is surveying herself in the way she is posed. We see this in the way the woman peaks out from her hair, with a slightly tilted head. She is opened to the viewer, giving him full view of her breasts and seemingly angel soft-skin. Her legs are crossed, suggesting something about her character, since she is after all nude. Berger explains the reasoning for her objectified existence in this picture in other terms saying, "She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life (46)."
Berger sees feminism in as a mimic of a woman's place in society, in just about every part of the world. He talks about the first nudes to come about, which was the shame that Adam and Eve felt when they became aware that they were naked. Berger points out that the woman was to blame in the story from the Bible, and that, "nakedness was created in the mind of the beholder (48)". People have created nakedness as a form of language. You can communicate to someone by creating meaning from being naked, which to Berger turns the nakedness to nudity. So, when a woman in naked she has more of a responsibility to survey herself to tend to the mans desires and to be beautiful without conceit.
Berger sees feminism in as a mimic of a woman's place in society, in just about every part of the world. He talks about the first nudes to come about, which was the shame that Adam and Eve felt when they became aware that they were naked. Berger points out that the woman was to blame in the story from the Bible, and that, "nakedness was created in the mind of the beholder (48)". People have created nakedness as a form of language. You can communicate to someone by creating meaning from being naked, which to Berger turns the nakedness to nudity. So, when a woman in naked she has more of a responsibility to survey herself to tend to the mans desires and to be beautiful without conceit.
"You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and call the painting vanity, thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure (51)"
Since "men act and women appear (47)" women have been made aware that they are a display, one to be looked at, and judged accordingly. For that reason women survey themselves constantly to meet the needs of the assumed male viewer. What is interesting is that Berger describes the mirror as hypocritical in terms of women being considered vain for looking at themselves. This is comparable to the way women are "vain" for taking a selfie of themselves, yet are recognized positively by men in doing so a certain way. This compares to women as surveyors of themselves, because they must be aware of how they look, to create a certain look, to be recognized and to be desired.
"Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display (54)"
The suggestions in some of the painting I saw, especially the ones I've provided, have tied in Burgers ideas of nudity versus nude. I've brought together the ideas that women are aware of their nudity, and that they infact survey their appearance as a response to men viewing them. The women in the paintings I observed were being displayed for a particular reasoning.Art is symbolic, and a huge part of that is a woman's representation in art. Women are objectified through nudity, as a way to appear for a man. Women seek a fitting response to men who want to see and admire the beauty of a woman.
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972. Print.
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972. Print.