Lecture series "Nudity in art. Background"

October 5–26, 7:00 p.m., 4 lessons

About the course

Lectures are devoted to the traditions of depicting a naked human body in different historical eras from primitive times through antiquity and the Middle Ages to the present day. Nudity is enthroned.

The genre of nudity is a fundamental component of the works of world art, expressing the highest manifestations of human emotions and intelligence, that is, in the images of art it becomes a universal and eternal means of artistic expression. Harmony, energy, ecstasy, humility, pathos, perfect beauty - a sensual language in which the image of a naked body “speaks”.

In these lectures, the topic will be revealed from the point of view of philosophy, sociology and cultural studies, illustrated in detail by an interesting visual series.

October 5th. Lecture number 1 - The emergence of form. Primitive era. Further development in the understanding of the image of a naked human body in the Crete-Mycenaean culture, Ancient Egypt. A new attitude to perfect beauty, aesthetic ideal in the period of Antiquity (Greece - archaic, Hellenism, Ancient Rome). The dualism of Byzantine art is the influence of ancient culture and the dogmatic tendencies of early Christianity. Change in body proportions in the Middle Ages. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The nature and asceticism of the Middle Ages.

October 12th. Lecture No. 2 - Renaissance. The heyday of humanistic thought and great works in the world of art. Luxury in everything. Renaissance woman is the transformed goddess of antiquity. Venus Heaven and Venus Naturalis. Doctrine of the New Academism. Studying nudity. The 17th century - the “mother-of-pearl” beauty of Rubensov’s women and the classic severity and theatricality of the Poussin scenic productions of antique scenes. 18th century - “celestial panoramas” by Boucher and Watteau.

October 19th. Lecture No. 3 - 19th century. Nudity in painting and sculpture from the era of Empire to Modern. Search for perfection of forms. Departure from ideal to living nature. Impressionistic ideas and their embodiment, the cold beauty of salon art. Nudity in Russian art is chastity and bashfulness.

October 26th. Lecture No. 4 - The Newest Time. 20th century and the first third of the 21st century. The revolution in art, the scrapping of old ideas about the "academic" form. The “official” doctrine of contemporary art is emerging. It all began, as in antiquity, from nudity. New means of embodiment of form, new tasks, new views. Nudity in the fine arts of the Soviet period. Socialist realism and nudity - the fusion of the traditions of the academic school with the trends in the development of a new form, its conditional simplicity and a peculiar coloristic solution. Attitude to the nudity of contemporary artists.

About the lecturer

Vera Shurgaya-Vereiskaya is an art historian, a member of the international association of art critics and critics.

Hereditary Petersburger, a successor to the dynasty of famous scientists and artists, graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, faculty of Theory and History of Art. For several decades, he has been actively engaged in exhibition activities (organized and conducted more than 200 art shows).

Own creative priorities - individual personalities, trends and problems of contemporary art. Published in St. Petersburg media. The author of numerous articles on the work of contemporary artists and exhibition projects.

She developed the first author’s program for a comprehensive school - “Primary Art Education”. He shows interest in historical topics, literature, poetry, theater and music.

She wrote artistic scripts for film and television. Member of many artistic and philosophical projects. Marked with diplomas and diplomas. Engaged in teaching.