The Naked Truth: Austrian Nudes and Nudes in Austria

I am glad I found the proper intro to what is still a delicate topic - at least in prudent US, the nude in art. Two shows in Europe deal with this ancient subject matter which is pretty much as old as art exists as a human form of expression. Our body and of course our face have always been prime sources for making images, simply because they are the vessel for our identity, the flesh and the bones to carry and contain our hearts and minds. And because the body has so much to do with our ability to live and our destiny to die.

Depending on the mores of the times the depictions of the body took on different style and form. While in the classical antique cultures of the Greeks and the Romans the body was often naked, offering its true and natural beauty to the gaze of the onlooker, we have known other cultures that covered the body up in respect for the individuality of the person. These widely oposing attitudes are still very much in place, witness the resurgence of the veil in Islamic countries at a time when in others you face an abundance of completely nude images in the daily media or nude bodies lounging at beaches and in urban parks.


Bettina Rheims par Serge Bramly, Mai 2004, Paris
© Serge Bramly, Courtesy Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont

In our short presentation we point to a show by the French photographer Bettina Rheims at the Kunsthaus in Vienna, Austria. For many years Rheims has specialized in taking photographs of nude women of all ages, races, and classes. One of her bestselling books has been a collection of pictures of young women taken in small and somewhat shaby hotel rooms. I have to admit, I like her nudes and incidentally, the Kunsthaus in Vienna, an old and nothing appartment building which was remodeled after designs by the late Austrian artist and organic architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, happens to be one of my favorite artsy places in that city.


Nuda Verita by Gustav Klimt in the Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt

At the same time French nudes are on display in Austria, Austrian nudes are travelling to Frankfurt, Germany. To be precise, a large show just opened at the Kunsthalle Schirn entitled The Naked Truth after a painting of Gustav Klimt. At the turn to the 20th century Klimt was the doyen of a group of young painters in Vienna which on various occassions provoked scandals and public outcry. At some point these painters split away from the academic artists and formed the so called Secession. The group's ideas survived to this day as a coveted building in a pronounced art nouveau style. Painters of the time represented in the Schirn show include the Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. Ironically and as these things sometimes go, the former enfant terribles are considered to be the pinnacle of modern Austrian art, today. BTW, Schiele was probably one of the early proponents of gender equality. Not only did he draw and paint numerous female nudes, he also was not above using himself as a model for nude studies. Either way he was constantly causing a stir or two.

This is altogether beautiful art work on display here. I am sure it qualifies for what John Peterson said in regard to The Gates the other day, "some art demands live viewing more than others."

It's a pity I am stuck in California and can't go to see The Naked Truth.


Seated Nude by Egon Schiele