In the 1830s, Nièpce discovered how to print images onto metal plates. When he died in 1833, Louis Daguerre, followed by Francois Arago continued to develop his research, resulting in the invention of the daguerreotype which consisted of an image printed onto a silver plate when exposed to the light. Together they had invented photography.
Unlike paintings of nudes, which had long been considered an artistic discipline, nude photography was first used for scientific or educational purposes. Art schools often provided anatomy courses and photography became an increasingly popular means of representing the human body. In Orsay, photographs of nudes were found with squares traced onto the bodies in order to more carefully study their proportions and make them easier to reproduce through drawing.
At the beginning of the 20th century, magazines began to publish photographs of nudes. L'Etude Académique, for example, published nude photographs aimed at replacing life models in painting. When it first appeared, photography was not considered an art form; it remained anonymous and was thought of as a tool for artists to represent the human body. However, less scientific uses had been explored and a few years earlier, many erotic magazines had been published despite censorship.
The male nude, less widespread than the female nude, first appeared in photographs by Albert Londe, Thomas Eakins and Vincenzo Galdi, taken outdoors and capturing men as representations of young ephebes. In the 1930s and 1940s, photographers of the time, including Man Ray, Jean Ferrero and Gregor Arax, created more virile and sophisticated images.
Contemporary nudes take on many forms. One might expect them to be exclusively erotic but in reality, photographers approach the human body in a number of different ways. True to his style, Jeff Koons, chooses sexual provocation, creating pornographic scenes. Spencer Tunick brings together hundreds of naked participants to create striking images. As for Peter Joel Witkin, he explores the nude using the horrific and the bizarre. Among the masters of nude photography are Nan Goldin and her decadent photographs, Araki, specializing in black and white, Anders Petersen and his images of intimate scenes, as well as Robert Mapplethorpe with his minimalist and distinctive staging and composition.
Depicting the nude human body in art is, for many artists, a way to express the beauty of the human form as well as sentiment and emotions. Representing nudes in art is an old tradition; the earliest known depiction of a nude figure, a small sculpture carved from a wooly mammoth tusk, dates back 35,000 years.
Who is a famous nude photographer?
One of the most famous photographers who created nude images is Alfred Stieglitz, an American photographer whose career spanned the first half of the 20th century. Some of his most famous nude works are of his lover, famous artist Georgia O'Keeffe.
What are the earliest examples of nude photography?
Unlike paintings of nude figures, which fell under the artistic domain from the earliest examples, nude photography began to be used in the fields of science and education. Nude photography was then introduced into the art world as an alternative way of representing the human body.
