The controversy in Art

The human figure, especially unclothed, has fascinated artists since times of antiquity. The western tradition of “The nude” began with Archaic Greek sculptures of standing male nudes known as kouros. Nude was synonymous with freedom and integrity. Legendary heroes, ideal figures, mythological personalities, and triumphant warriors were characterized as being “in the nude” and were regarded for their masculinity and strength. The kouros had a female equivalent known as the kore, and were always clothed. Females wouldn’t be depicted nude until much later in ancient Greece. Early Christian emphasis on chastity and celibacy discounted images of nakedness. Nudes became symbols of shame and sin, weakness and defenselessness until the rediscovery of classical culture in the Renaissance.
The first and possibly one of the most famous female nude sculptures is Praxiteles’ The Venus de Milo. It was likely created between 130 and 100 BC, although the exact date of origin is a source of some controversy. Discovered in 1820, the nude torso enabled her to be identified as Aphrodite, the Roman Venus, goddess of love and beauty. Her serene expression, high breasts and calm pose show the classical influences in Praxiteles’ style, but her elongated silhouette, position in space and very sensual, realistic nudity link this work to the Hellenistic period between 323 – 31 BC. Unlike the stoic posture of earlier classic pieces, the larger than life marble statue appears to be stepping forward, and as she moves her drape is slipping off her body exposing voluptuous curves and nude flesh. Her sculptor was seeking to depict divine beauty, that of Plato’s ideals not worldly reality.
Centuries later, the end of the Middle Ages brought us Titian's Venus of Urbino (c.1538). It became the archetypal example of the female nude in Renaissance culture. She is completely nude, lying on a couch in the foreground, propped on pillows and her elbow, hair cascading over her shoulders, her hand