Naked: The Nude in America, a review

[Danee]

From: http://www.portlandbookreview.com/art-architecture-photography/naked-the-nude-in-america/

by Bram Dijkstra

Rizzoli Press, $75.00, 476 pages

Professor Dijkstra’s coffee table epic Naked: The Nude in America, is visually stunning, and scholarly, while remaining approachable by those of us without a Masters in Fine Arts. We Americans have had an on-again/off-again (mostly off-again) attraction/aversion to depictions of the male and female nude. Naked presents the nude, and places it within its proper cultural context. For Dijkstra, the relative “worth” of the image lay in its place in the American culture of its time, rather than in its critical value. In other words, Professor Dijkstra’s book is more about the representation of nudity in art, in the United States,  from the 18th century to present, rather than any one individual piece of art.

The book’s illustrations of nudes in drawn, painted, photographed and sculpted forms are reproduced spectacularly. This weighty tome is densely packed with illustrations. One should remember to lift with the legs, not the back when contemplating reading this book. The author does not overly burden the text with footnotes. He allows the reader to join with the prose, without the need to impress the reader with the depth and breadth of his bibliography. His footnotes, sidenotes, and captions are explanatory, without being distracting. Naked: The Nude in America is a must have for any art aficionado. While it’s possible to greatly enjoy this book without having a MFA, or PhD in Humanities, it certainly couldn’t hurt.

Reviewed by Bradley Wright

[genxnaturist]

Thanks for info, I be interested in book but 75 dollar price tag is bit of turn off.

 Sexually overt Skype complaint by a long time female

[Pitti]

Danee the book that you introduce sounds very interesting. Did you read it?

[brandon]

Thanks for info, I be interested in book but 75 dollar price tag is bit of turn off.

According to Amazon (where it is $47.25) it is 476 pages and 5.9 pounds. Less than ten cents a page, lol.