PAPER DOLLS: Show's Over / Let's Get Dressed #1

The western art historical canon is rife with titillating, idealized images of naked women, referred to as ‘nudes;’ a word that elevates these images out of the realm of porn and into the refined realm of high art for the ‘connoisseur.’ We have all been acculturated into this entrenched, biased vision of art history as being fit subject matter for the most refined taste. After all, is the female form not a thing of exquisite beauty? But what of men, who have overwhelmingly been portrayed fully clothed, and in full regalia symbolizing positions of power? It is time to confront that which we have overlooked for centuries in art: Images of nude women, veiled in the guise of Fine Art, are, quite simply, naked. And naked men are rarely portrayed. The most obvious things are those that are accepted as the norm. We look but we do not see. In this revisionist art historical series, female nudes from classical masterpieces are liberated from their display as sexualized, alluring objects of desire, by being dressed in contemporary clothes, symbolizing women's agency today to profoundly change the narrative of this cultural legacy inherited from centuries of inherent bias, and clearing the way for the next generation of young girls to grow up in a world of equality.

Attribution: Édouard Manet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons