Book Description
The female nude has been one of the most enduring themes in art. Curve surveys how artists over the course of the last ten years have been sculpting, photographing, and painting the female form. A wide range of work and styles is represented: from the work of John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage, whose inspiration ranges from Old Master painting to Penthouse magazine, respectively, to the sensual nudes of Jock Sturges's photographs to the brazen women who populate fine arts, photography, and fashion work. The sheer variety of the art presented will speak to a wide and diverse audience.
About the Author
Meghan Dailey is a freelance writer and critic whose work is regularly featured in Artforum, Time Out New York, Frieze, and Art Press.
Sarah Valdez is associate editor at ArtNews magazine; her work has appeared in Art in America, Time Out New York, and Artforum.
Jane Harris is a freelance writer and critic; her work has appeared in Artforum, Art in America, and Artnet.
Curve: The Female Nude Now FROM THE PUBLISHER
Curve: The Female Nude Now disrobes the female form once again to survey her most current representations. Whatever the medium - painting, sculpture, video, performance, or installation - the images in this book illustrate how contemporary explorations of the subject continue to yield an unprecedented and often unexpected range of ideals, metaphors, and personalities. While some artists continue to pay homage to the beauty of the female form, others have more complex agendas, straddling unsettling lines between shallowness and depth, or exploring and commenting on personal and political freedom. The waifish young women of one artist's oeuvre contrast sharply with the plump, luscious figures that inhabit another's. Even inspiration knows no boundaries; as modern works reference Old Master paintings and males and females alike draw on the kinky world of contemporary pornographic magazines.
Featuring approximately 275 fresh and provocative images from over 90 of today's most prominent and often controversial artists, Curve: The Female Nude Now reveals the power and permanence of this seductive subject matter.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
The seductive, startling, and sometimes quirky images included in this survey of contemporary female nudes captivates the eye and stimulates the mind. As the first comprehensive look at the last decade of the female nude in fine art, this book, with essays by six art writers, further blurs the area among the erotic, art, and pornography. Demonstrating a wide variety of approaches to the female figure, works from more than 90 prominent and controversial artists are included in this delicious peek at nude bodies. Representatives from photography, performance and body art, painting, sculpture, and digital media are assembled for the 300 illustrations. Functioning as a counterpart to David Leddick's The Male Nude Now: New Visions for the 21st Century, Curve's similar purpose in exploring representations of the human figure includes previously unpublished works from both established artists and bold newcomers. Appealing to the voyeur in us all, the visually driven content makes the book delightful to browse yet supplies analysis of each artist's work to satisfy the art critic. Regular circulation may render this paperback edition ragged, but otherwise it is highly recommended for larger public and academic libraries.-Rebecca Tolley-Stokes, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Art & Photography
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