Stripped Bare — The Body Revealed in Contemporary Art

Bookproject, published in autumn 2004.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, art has rejected the cliché of the beautiful nude and sought to dismantle the ideal body. For today's artists and photographers, the nature of the body and how it is defined through being looked at and depicted have become key themes. Which body is worthy of portrayal? Which body displays the modern sensibility? Is the unclothed body still the desired body?

With its wealth of contemporary photographs, paintings and sculptures, Stripped Bare: The Body Revealed in Contemporary Art explores in detail the representation of the human body — that most familiar of objects, which we assume has long been revealed but which is constantly being assigned new meanings. In Stripped Bare, forceful and often erotic images by many of the most highly acclaimed artists and photographers of recent decades, including Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe and Araki, feature alongside works by significant predecessors, including Man Ray and Andy Warhol. Their undisguised and often merciless close-up views of other bodies and their own encompass pleasure and desire, love and sexuality, pain and power, simultaneously forcing the viewer as an eyewitness into the area of tension between the artist and the subject, between the private, the voyeuristic and the public.

Supporting this powerful collection of works are illuminating discussions that analyse the 'gaze' that links artist, viewer and subject; the complex cultural forces that operate in relation to the nude; the notion of unauthorized looking; the relationship between artistic representation and pornographic consumption; and the influence of the cinema in depicting the human body.

This stunning and highly original book, which includes many works that have never previously been published, will appeal to anyone interested in contemporary art, photography and culture.

The authors

Marianne Karabelnik is an independent art historian, art critic and curator, specializing in modern and contemporary art.

Thomas Koerfer trained as a sociologist and economist before becoming a successful film and theatre director, scriptwriter and film producer. He regards the assembling of his art collection almost as another career.

Juri Steiner is an art critic and freelance curator working for such international museums as the Kunsthaus, Zurich. He is currently planning a "Dada house" in Zurich's former Cabaret Voltaire.

Victor Tupitsyn is an art critic and philosopher of culture. He is the author of numerous books and articles on twentieth-century art. He lives and works in New York and Paris.

Merrell Publishers
256 pages, 250 colour illustrations
ISBN 185894256X

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