Exquisite Arts Magazine Vol 7: Fall Issue- Oct/2017 | Page 50

Is NUDITY IN ART “We should venture on the study of every kind of animal without distaste; for each and all will reveal to us something natural and something beautiful” Aristotle Back in 2015, the British Museum exhibited some of the most outstanding Greek sculptures. In contrast with those of the Assyrians and Egyptians of the same antiquity years, the Greek statues were largely nude. The Assyrian and Egyptian mortals and gods were arrayed in their royal regalia while the ancient of Greece appeared in their natural state. It’s actually possible to perceive the gods and mortals of Greece strutting down the iconic streets of Athens with nothing but their birth suit. While the Assyrian, Persian and Egyptian civilizations found nude a shameful topic and refused to chisel it in marble to represent their heroic mortals and deities, the Greeks had a different persuasion. CREST OF HEROES Xyare Lambert Page 49 To the Greeks, nudity was the emblem of the heroes of the day and the unadulterated way of appending their gods, semi-gods and half-mortals in time. However, it’s not to say the Assyrian or Persian galleries today lack nude busts from antiquity. Naked figures are in plenty, but they aren't of heroic and famous mortals but the pitiful flayed and stripped war victims who received the vilest and most cruel punishment while still alive. To