Are Nude Paintings of Women for the Pleasure of Man

Introduction

Nude sketches by Parduman

My uncle Parduman Singh was a painter. He painted prodigiously, but died a pauper, unsung and un- heralded. He was a contemporary of Hussain, but that is where the comparison ended. My uncle painted nudes and conditioned my thinking on this aspect of painting. Later I saw the nudes of Dali, Edgar Degas, Monet and others and realized that painting a nude woman is nothing more than what she would appear to a male

Painting a Nude Woman; the Ethos

The Classic painting

In any painting a woman is on display for a man who ultimately has the power over her. As an example a look at the paintings of Degas especially After the bath (woman drying herself) shows a woman to a male viewer who spies on the woman in her most private moments. He invades her space in a way that allows the viewer to feel as though he deserves to look at her and that she would not be positioning herself the way she is if he were not watching her. This confirms Berger’s theory that the woman will behave in a way that suggests that she knows someone is watching her and it is her duty to make a mundane task as sexual as possible for his pleasure.

The Realist Movement

Gustav's 'Reclining Nude'

Thus hordes of painters especially after the realistic movement emerged in the 19th century painted women in the nude as they look in their natural form complete with hair. This is basically for the man and a women being painted knows that her portrait in the nude is an exhibition for a man. Gustav Courbet’s L’Origine du Monde is a classic example.Another example of 'reclining nude' is displayed on top
The bottom line is however a voyeuristic delight for man

Last Word

Self portrait Amrita Shergill

Some women painters of nudes did come. Notably Amrita Shergill. She died young at the age of 28 in 1941.Over a 100 of her nudes are on display at the national Museum of Modern art in Delhi.
Painting a nude woman is a sign of sexuality and one facet that a woman remains an object of sexual pleasure for a man. One can agree or disagree with this, but can anyone deny this?