Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Nudity, nude
(1,400 words)

1. Concept

In cultural history, nudity denotes the unclothed state of the human body as distinct from the cultural norm of the clothed state (Apparel). In art, certain formal and aesthetic principles are applied to reinterpret human nakedness as an artistic form of nudity. The resultant art work is called in English a “nude.” The German term Akt (from the Latin actus; “action”, “motion”) became established to denote a pose, study, or general portrayal of the naked body in the 19th century. In studying a nude as a “reformed body” [3], …

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Carrasco, Julia, “Nudity, nude”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 03 October 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_024503>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20200128



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