The Fig Leaf: How One Small Leaf Became the Nude’s Most Enduring Censor
The most effective censor in the history of art measures about six inches and weighs almost nothing. The fig leaf
Art History
Jean-Honoré Fragonard Died 220 Years Ago Today. He Painted the Nude as Pure, Fleeting Pleasure.
The French Revolution ended a great deal: the monarchy, the old aristocracy, and an entire way of picturing the body.
Aubrey Beardsley Was Born 154 Years Ago Today. His Erotic Nudes Defined the Decadent 1890s.
Aubrey Beardsley was born on August 21, 1872, in Brighton, England, and died at twenty-five, leaving behind a body of
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Died 241 Years Ago Today. His Nude Voltaire Made the Enlightenment Strip Naked.
Two hundred and forty-one years ago today, on August 20, 1785, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle died in Paris at seventy-one. He was
On August 19, 1839, Photography Was Given to the World. It Changed the Nude Forever.
On August 19, 1839, in a packed chamber of the Institut de France in Paris, the French government did something
Guido Reni Died 384 Years Ago Today. He Painted the Body as a Perfect, Serene Ideal.
In 1642, in the city where he had spent most of his life, Guido Reni died at the age of
Francesco Albani Was Born 448 Years Ago Today. He Painted the Nude as a Gentle Paradise.
Scholars have never fully settled whether Francesco Albani was born on the 17th of March or the 17th of August
Agostino Carracci Was Born 469 Years Ago Today. He Made the Nude the First Lesson of Every Artist.
Annibale Carracci gets the glory. His brother Agostino, born in Bologna on August 16, 1557, built the system. Together with
Art History, Today in Art History
René Magritte Died 59 Years Ago Today. His Surrealist Nudes Made the Body Strange Again.
René Magritte died on August 15, 1967, in Brussels, aged 68. Fifty-nine years later he remains the rare painter whose
Simeon Solomon Died 121 Years Ago Today. He Painted Same-Sex Desire Into the Pre-Raphaelite Nude, and It Cost Him Everything.
On August 14, 1905, the painter Simeon Solomon died in London at sixty-four, destitute and largely forgotten. Thirty years earlier,