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