Week 2 Term 2 - Analyzing John Bergers ways of seeing

"To be naked is to be oneself to be nude is to be seen naked by others but not recognized for oneself, a nude has to be seen as an object"

John Berger's "Nudity" in Ways of Seeing discusses the idea in contrast to Kenneth clark's idea of the nude acting as an art, whereas John Berger argues that their are flaws within Clark's evaluation. such as the way these bodies are portrayed whether they be true to the person, whether they act as a disguise or as if they are an exhibit in a museum. Clark's evaluation doesn't take into account that majority of the nudes are women, the context and how these woman were portrayed in context to the male spectator. With many of these works the nude woman in these paintings would often have their gaze fixated on the spectator however this gaze wasn't one of determination or awareness of oneself or ones own sexuality but a coy gaze looking at the spectator, the woman's unnamed owner. Their body is positioned in a way to show of to display and show their sexual availability to the spectator. In some of these cases these nude woman will have a male lover present within the scene however their gaze isn't focused on their lover, but the spectator gazing back at them.