Nude vs.

Naked Analysis
Following Kenneth Clark John Berger, in "Ways of Seeing", distinguishes "naked" or "nakedness" from "nudity" in the
European tradition, with nakedness simply being the state of having no cloths on and nudity being a form of artistic
representation. The nature of this artistic mode is related, according to Berger, to what he terms "lived sexuality". Being
naked is just being yourself, but being nude in the artistic sense of the word is being without cloths for the purpose of
being looked at. A naked body has to become an object of a gaze in order to become a nude representation. Being naked
means being without any costume that you put on, but being nude means that you become your own costume. Painting
and photographs which portray nudity appeal to the viewer's sexuality, the male viewer, and have nothing to do with the
portrayed woman's sexuality – women are there for men to look at, not for themselves, for man's sexuality, not their own.
When there is a man figure in nude painting the woman seldom addressed him, for she is aiming at her "true lover" – the
viewer, which is the central figure of the painting without even being present in it.

In "Ways of Seeing" Berger also discusses the meaning of being naked outside of the artistic context. He argues that in
nakedness there is the relief of finding out that someone is indeed a man or a woman, and that at the moment of being
naked an element of banality comes into play and that we require this banality because it dissolves the mystery which was
present up until cloths were taken off and reality became simpler. Therefore nakedness in reality, unlike representation, is
for Berger a process, not a state.

In concluding "Ways of Seeing" John Berger holds that the humanist tradition of European painting holds a contradiction:
on the one hand the painter's, owner's and viewer's individualism and on the other the object, the woman, which is treated
is abstraction. These unequal relations between men and women are, in Berger's view, deeply assimilated in our culture
and in the consciousness of women who do to themselves what men do to them –objectify themselves.

Naked vs. Nude Analysis

Sometimes looking is not always seeing. In John Berger’s, “Ways of Seeing”, Berger conveys this motif in a variety of
ways. For instance, in chapter three of “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger discusses how women are seen in art. One, as being
nude, and the other, as being naked. Although these two ways seem similar at first glance, they are polar opposites when it
pertains to concept. Being nude is to be in the presence of a male viewer, and is usually portrayed in a derogatory way
towards women. Being naked however, is subjective. To be naked, is to be oneself. Away from society, away from men,
away from culture, to be away from all those of which corrupts the mind, and to be solely in the mind of the beholder, is
to be naked. These two ways of seeing can be viewed since culture and art was contrived.

Furthermore, we can see this during the French Realism in the mid 19th Century. Edourd Manet’s, “Olympia”, made from
oil on canvas in 1863, manifests the nude aspect of Berger’s statement. As with all nude representations of women, the
woman in, “Olympia”, is looking towards us, the viewer. In this culture of aristocrats and wealthy bourgeois, the male
figure is assumed to be the viewer. Women were nothing more than a mere object for the pleasure of the male audience.
Olympia is without clothes, and in her most vulnerable and submissive state to the male viewer. Her gaze has a
promiscuous aspect to it, almost inviting the viewer to come join. However a woman appears to a man, can reciprocate
how she will be treated. Her gesture, position, and aloof demeanor, proclaim to the viewer that she is neither timid nor
scared, but that she ultimately enjoys being surveyed and an object of pleasure towards the man.

Meanwhile, there are also depictions of nakedness in art during Impressionism in the 1870’s and 1880’s. Edgar Degas’s,
“The Tub”, made in 1886 out of pastels, is a great contribution to Berger’s concept of being naked. A major factor in
conceiving that this painting is of a naked woman, is that she is looking away from us, the viewer. We can also see this is
a genre category of painting, meaning everyday life activities. By making this a genre painting, the subject is more
focused on her own life, and her own internal pleasures, rather than that of the viewers. Gesture also enlightens the viewer
that the woman in the tub is naked. Because her body is concealed from the viewer, this makes her appear to not care
about the viewer’s pleasure. As stated before, to be naked is to see oneself. To be naked, is subjective, and also away from
society, culture, and all those which corrupt the mind. To be naked, is solely in the mind of the beholder, and not for the
pleasure of the viewer.

Moreover, nudity is depicted during the German Expressionism in the 20th C. The Die Brücke movement fathomed
expressionistic colors, which conveyed emotion. The use of color also helps differentiate between subjects being naked
and nude. Karl Schmidt-Rotluff’s, “Girl Before Mirror”, made with oil and canvas in 1915, depicts a nude woman.
Although being highly abstract, we can depict that the subject is a women from the title and the use of color. Franz Marc
made color relationships with male being blue, female being yellow, and brutal matter being red. Although the Die Brücke
did not specifically say whether they agreed nor disagreed with this concept of color, the fact that the figure is depicted as
being yellow, helps assert that it is indeed a woman. As discussed throughout this essay, being nude and naked are
drastically contrasting concepts. The woman in this painting is gazing at the viewer, who is assumed to be male; this is a
vital characteristic of the painting to be of nudity instead of nakedness. The gaze of the woman shows the viewer that she
is aware of being surveyed, almost inviting the viewer in. Because the Die Brücke used abstraction and crude depictions
of human sexuality, this stylistic characteristic further exaggerates the woman’s contrapposto pose. This pose is a sign of
comfort and relaxation. The fact that the woman is not only viewing the surveyor, but also comfortable with the attention
from a male audience, further exposes the woman being nude and not naked. Another factor in determining that this
painting is of nudity, is the mirror behind the woman. Mirrors usually symbolize vanity, or having too much pride in ones
own appearance. The key word in that description is appearance. Because the woman has so much pride in her own
appearance, she has now become the surveyor instead of the surveyed. She now takes pleasure in seeing her own figure
and appearance, as the male viewer did. Once again, making the woman objectified.

Throughout history we see numerous paintings of women. John Berger characterizes these women as having two
purposes. Nakedness, which is to be subjective and viewed only internally and of the mind of the beholder, rather then an
object of thought. Second is nudity, which is to be viewed externally, becoming an object of pleasure, rather than an
individual of intrinsic purpose. Because of the vast amount of evidence that supports this claim, I am inclined to agree
with John Berger’s clause of women’s purpose in paintings. In this world, objectivity, and subjectivity characterize
everything we do, and why we do it.

Difference between nakedness and nudity

Nudity is different from nakedness; Kenneth Clark argues in The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1956) that " the word
[nudity] was forced into our vocabulary by critics of the early eighteenth century to persuade the artless islanders [of the
UK] that, in countries where painting and sculpture were practiced and valued as they should be, the naked human body
was the central subject of art."

"The English language, with its elaborate generosity, distinguishes between the naked and the nude. To be naked
is to be deprived of our clothes, and the word implies some of the embarrassment most of us feel in that condition.
The word "nude," on the other hand, carries, in educated usage, no uncomfortable overtone. The vague image it
projects into the mind is not of a huddled and defenseless body, but of a balanced, prosperous, and confident
body: the body re-formed. In fact, the word was forced into our vocabulary by critics of the early eighteenth
century to persuade the artless islanders [of the UK] that, in countries where painting and sculpture were practiced
and valued as they should be, the naked human body was the central subject of art."

Sixteen years later, in 1972, John Berger in Ways of Seeing argues that "a naked body has to be seen as an object in
order to become a nude," introducing the concept of sexual objectification.

"To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself. A
naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude. (The sight of it as an object stimulates the use
of it as an object.) Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display. To be naked is to be without disguises."
Analysis
Berger also critically demeaned the idea of women utilizing props—such as mirrors—in paintings; as well as, the
meaning as to what it means to be “nude” or simply “naked”. Berger describes it as, “to be naked is to be oneself. To be
nude is to be seen naked by others and not recognize oneself…Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display…the
nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress” (Berger, 54). In non-European art, the work has
intentions of being sexualized, being “absorbed in one another” (Berger, 53) and playing the same roles as the man does.
Can it be presumed that the gender inequality was socially constructed in Europe? From Berger’s arguments, it seems as if
that is to be true. From the examples of African, Persian, and Colombian art (Mochica pottery, “Vishnu and Lakshmi,”
and Rajasthan”) Berger proves that the woman is interactive with the male; whereas, in the European paintings, the female
can be seen subverting their gaze away from the male, or looking at the male spectator because they are being deemed as
less submissive. Also, in the paintings females lack the qualities that would make them seem as if they have any kind of
dominance. Berger mentions, “Hair is associated with sexual power, with passion. The woman’s sexual passion needs to
be minimized so that the spectator may feel that he has the monopoly of such passion” (Berger, 55). Thus, delineating and
further encouraging the gap between males and females. The way woman are portrayed in the paintings not only depicts
that they are just an appearance, but looking to the outside surveyor (assumed to be a male) for their approval means that
they are succumbing these roles.

Berger then goes on to distinguish between nudity and nakedness. Defining nakedness as being seen as oneself,
while nudity is being seen by others and recognized as an object instead of oneself. Looking at photographs and paintings
distinguishing a nude from naked portrait gets tricky. In the traditional European oil painting, the nude, the principal
protagonist (the painter) is never painted, but what does gets painted is a result of what appeals to him sexually. Therefore
a woman’s body hair and fat dimples is never painted, since it is not sexually appealing to the painter. Moreover, when a
woman is depicted with her lover, her attention is rarely painted as directed towards the male lover if one is present
instead it is directed toward the spectator—the painter. Most Post-Renaissance European oil paintings with sexual
imagery are frontal, literally or metaphorically. Of course there are exceptions, let’s not dwell. The oil-paintings of this
era feature stark nakedness.
WAYS OF SEEING: CHAPTER 3, THE NUDE

The social presence of men and women

Berger points out that traditionally, men and women have different types of social presence. Men are
measured by the degree of power they offer. The power may be in any number of forms, for example
moral, physical, economic etc. A man's presence suggests what he may or may not be able to do to or for
you. In contrast to this, a woman's presence indicates what can or cannot be done to her. Every thing she
does contributes to her presence. She is born into the keeping of men, and from childhood is taught to
survey herself, with the result that her being is split into two, the surveyed and the surveyor. Her own
sense of being is replaced by a sense of being appreciated by others – ultimately men. He acts, she
appears, and she watches herself being looked at. 'The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the
surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object – and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.'
(p. 47).

The nude in oil painting

Berger points out that women are the main subject in one category of European oil painting – the nude.
The nude reveals how women have been seen and judged as sights. The first nudes in this tradition
illustrate the story of Adam and Eve, usually as a series of images similar to a cartoon. For Berger, there
are two important elements to this story. Firstly, having eaten the apple they see each other in a different
way, so nakedness was in the eye of the beholder. Secondly, the woman is blamed and made subservient
to the man by way of punishment.
During the Renaissance the story disappeared, and instead a single moment was shown, usually the
moment of shame. However, the shame is directed more at the viewer than towards each other.
Gradually, the shame became a kind of display.
Even when secular subjects began to be used, the implication that the woman was aware of being seen by
the spectator remained. As a result she was not naked in her own right but naked as the (male) viewer
saw her.
Berger gives a range of examples. Nudes looking at the viewer looking at them; of women looking in
mirrors joining in the spectacle of themselves; or of looking into mirrors and being accused of vanity,
when in reality they are only satisfying men's desire to see them naked; and of women's beauty being
judged. Common to all of these images is the sense of the woman being watched; by men in the painting;
by herself; by the spectator towards whom her body is often turned.
Often, she looks at the spectator looking at her. Her nakedness is not an expression of her own feelings
but that of the male viewer. This is in marked contrast to the art of other cultures where nakedness is not
so passive and has a degree of sexual equality.
At the time Berger produced Ways of Seeing, the most authoritative study of the nude was Kenneth
Clark's The Nude. Clark distinguishes between nakedness and nudity. For him, to be naked is simply to be
without clothes. It has nothing to do with art. The nude, on the other hand, is an art form. The subject
may be naked people, but the way they are painted makes them nudes, i.e. a way of seeing.
[Berger does not make it clear, but Clark's main concern was to deny the sexuality
of the nude.]

Berger develops this distinction. 'To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others
and yet not recognized for oneself. A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude.'

In the average oil painting of the nude, the main character is never painted; this is the male spectator for
whom everything has been done. Berger illustrates this point with the Allegory of Time and Love by
Bronzino. In the painting, Cupid is kissing Venus, yet the way their bodies are arranged have nothing to
do with them kissing.
Her body has been contorted to present itself to the male viewer of the painting. The picture appeals to
his sexuality, it has nothing to do with hers. The image conforms to another European convention, that of
not painting body hair on women. This is because hair suggests power and passion, and the male
spectator must feel these are his characteristics.
There are exceptions to the tradition, and Berger points out the characteristics paintings need, to be '. . .
paintings of loved women, more or less naked' (p. 57),rather than nudes. They need to transcend the
moment, because for Berger, in a lived sexual experience, nakedness is a process rather than a state, so
an image of any instant runs the risk of distortion. The images must be subjective, and finally they must
have an element of banality (ordinariness).
European humanism, which entails a strong sense of the individual, was a strong influence on European
thinking during this time, yet the nude denied the individualism of the women portrayed. The reason for
this was the contradictory interests of those involved in a painting: the patron, the artist and the model.
Du¨rer, for example, believed the ideal nude ought to be constructed out of the parts of various bodies, so
denying any sense of the individual at all. The spirit of individualism allowed some artists to resolve this
contradiction, but the tradition as a whole did not.
Despite the notion of the ideal nude being broken by Manet's Olympia, and replaced by the realism of the
prostitute, the unequal relationship exploited by oil painting is still deeply embedded in our culture and
shapes the thinking of many women. Today, the attitudes that created the nude can be seen in the mass
media, and '... the essential way of seeing women, the essential use to which their images are put, has
not changed'(p. 64). The ideal spectator is still male and the image is designed to flatter him.