Nude photography

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Low-key female nude

As nude photography is called a genre of art photography , whose theme is the representation of the naked (Vollakt) or partially naked (half nude) is the human body. It thus represents the implementation of the artistic act with the technical means of photography.

Artistic claim

Like portrait photography, nude photography is considered a high school of photography . In addition to technical skills and a skilful use of light as a design tool , it also requires the photographer to be able to communicate with his model , etc. a. to build a positive relationship with him.

Nude photos differ from “nude photos” in terms of the artistic demands they make.

“Nudes are undoubtedly a very sensitive area, because nowhere is there such a risk that a good will will turn into a terrible mistake, as great as with the nude. In front of a false background, in a false position and gesture, an unclothed person can all too easily only appear "undressed" ... "

- Werner Wurst

The photographer Günter Rössler is quoted in the mirror:

"With Newton the pose dominates, with me it is about the highest possible authenticity of the girls"

Presumably two main creative directions of nude photography are addressed.

History and Development

The nude is a classic motif in the visual arts ; even the early high cultures ( Sumer , Egypt , Crete , India among others) know nudes. The development can be followed through the Greek sculpture, with restrictions also through the art of the Middle Ages to the European art of the modern age. The study of the human body has been part of training at art academies since the Renaissance .

The extremely long exposure times in the early years of photography, usually between 10 and 30 minutes, made taking photographs of people a difficult, if not impossible, endeavor. It was only with the development of more light-sensitive plates and improved lenses that portraits in general and nudes in particular became possible.

The first daguerreotypes with erotic representations are likely to have appeared at Parisian dealers around 1845 . They were unique and were often hand-colored according to contemporary tastes. Some of the first nude photographers include Philippe Derussy , Eugène Delacroix , Eugène Durieu and Bruno Braquehais . During this time, photographers created so-called academies, especially for painters. These were used by the painters to study the human body, like the previously common stitches. After 1850, as Helmut Gernsheim put it, "it was considerably cheaper to work from photos than from professional models."

In 1853, Félix-Jacques Moulin was the first Parisian photographer to supply the Bibliothèque Nationale with a series of nudes as compulsory pieces.

At that time, “good morals” only corresponded to trade in nude photos for which there was an artistic or scientific need. On the artistic side, there was the trade in nude photographs, which served as templates for painting or drawing, on the scientific side, as medical or ethnological study material. Under this pretext, erotic photography developed more and more in the 1870s.

With this in mind, photographers quickly found a way to make these academies more piquant and to be able to serve those interested in erotic images within the framework of the permitted use. Among these photographers, it quickly became clear what was causing the “tingling” in the male customers, and so a uniform design was quickly found that deviated from the pure academies. This still applies to the distinction between nude photography and erotic photography. The sparse studio furnishings were replaced by backdrops and the ambience suggested places such as the park, salon, boudoir or bedroom. The models were not completely naked, which should suggest that they are in the final stages of undressing. The direct look of the models into the camera and facial expressions that should suggest that the models agree with the observation on their part should increase the "tingling" of the buyers.

In addition to these piquants, the production of cochonneries , "shameless lewdness", developed, the distribution of which the respective governments tried to curb. These recordings were often made in brothels and were also a kind of overview of offers for these houses. Here the photographers worked anonymously.

Paris became the main production site for such recordings. The distribution was illegal according to the aspects already mentioned, but it was tolerated by the authorities with regard to the emerging tourism. After all, the visitors to the relevant establishments were able to marvel at the images in person. It should also be possible for visitors to Paris to take home a souvenir in the form of a postcard with the corresponding motifs.

Varieté dancers also acted as models for early glamor portraits . Depending on the degree of freedom of movement, the photographers signed these photos with their real names. Sometimes more “meat” was shown, but in these recordings this was a far-reaching illusion, because bare skin under the ballet dress was often tight-fitting, powdered tights. The same was true of skin that shimmered through cobweb-thin negligés, where white powdered jerseys were used.

These areas have little to do with nude photography, but since the high production figures of the so-called postcard industry (1875–1925) resulted in a huge number of anonymous photographs, this area is commonly equated with the trends in nude photography.

Artistic nude photography in the years 1860 to 1880 continued the trends from the fifties of the 19th century. During this time, photographers such as Marie-Alexandre Alophe , Paul Marcellin Berthier , Nadar and Voland dominated the scene in Paris . They all came from the artistic profession to photography.

Gaudenzio Marconi was one of the artist-photographers who specifically recorded nudes depicting poses that are familiar to painters and sculptors. At Marconi these were format-filling. In addition, he also carried out acts in the form of people who represented allegories .

In the 1920s, reformist, liberal movements in Germany , which had made themselves felt before the First World War , also opened up new subject areas for nude photography. New motifs found photographers like Gerhard Riebicke in nudism , which, like the beauty and expressive dance with a new body feeling and a different approach to nudity experimented.

However, this did not resolve the social dissent on questions of custom and morality. The role of nude photography in National Socialism was accordingly ambivalent . The Nazis only tolerated such work that could be used to serve their ideological racial madness and that did not run counter to their ideas of "popular hygiene".

In the late 1980s, Robert Mapplethorpe's explicit images sparked serious controversy in the United States.

The American Spencer Tunick has been known for a new type of nude photography since the early 2000s : he photographs large crowds of people naked in public and stages them as part of the landscape. In doing so, he blurs the boundaries between performance and nude photography.

Subgenres and Subjects

High-key nude photo

Nude photography offers three basic forms of representation of the nude:

  • The "classic" full act (simple background, full act, model is completely naked),
  • the representation of detailed views (also often referred to as "body parts", are details of the body, abstracting and anonymizing, emphasis on shapes and structures, close-up),
  • as well as the semi-nude (the model is partially clothed or draped, objects cover the model, this is also referred to as a covered nude).

In addition to these three basic forms, nude photography has fanned out into numerous sub-genres or subjects with different, sometimes specific, techniques. These include, for example:

Legal Aspects

Nude model in public space

The boundaries between nude photography and erotic photography are fluid, subject to the subjective moral ideas of the individual and the respective cultural ideas of “good morals”.

Differentiation from pornography

To pornography , the nude photography using the following definition can define: A representation is called today under German law pornographic called when advances sexual under Rear attaching other human covers operations in roughly intrusive, anreißerischer way to the front, and if their overall objective tendency exclusively or mainly aimed at stimulating the sex drive (Stefen, 1989). The German Criminal Code (StGB) contains a total ban on certain pornographic writings that are classified as socially harmful , such as violent or animal pornography (§ 184a StGB). Nude photographs, on the other hand, do not primarily aim at sexual arousal and, in addition to an aesthetic and technical requirement, are also characterized by human respect.

Protection of artistic freedom

On the other hand, the German Basic Law explicitly protects art: art is free ; Art. 5 para. 3 GG guarantees the freedom of art without reservation. The concept of art is the Court of the Federal Constitutional Court did not therefore not limited to a certain level and to "valuable" or even classical art. The balance between the protection of art and other legal interests protected by the constitution, such as the protection of minors , is a regular concern of the courts, for example in June 1990 in the Opus Pistorum case .

Protection of minors

The protection of minors is therefore a problem area in photography depicting sexuality. The sales ban to young people under the age of 18 (" indexing" ) is only possible in Germany and other democratic countries within the framework of post-censorship and rarely occurs in nude photographs - however, nude photographs used in advertising or in magazines, for example, have to be in other, less liberal countries can be removed or modified as part of prior censorship .

Right to your own picture

The legal relationship between the photographer and the person depicted is governed by the right to one's own image . The contractual assignment of the image rights is necessary for further use of the image by the photographer. In the commercial sector, a model release fulfills this function. If recordings take place in public space , separate rights can take effect.

Nude recordings in public

Paragraph 118 of the Administrative Offenses Act is decisive for this. Depending on the individual case, it must be checked whether the behavior is "grossly inappropriate" and suitable to annoy or endanger the general public. It must be expected that people will notify the public order office or the police. The public order office or the police must then decide on a case-by-case basis whether such harassment is present or not. The sanctions range from toleration to warnings with a request for clothing to fines.

Nude photography and morals

The genre is also a copy of professional photographers, as here Helmut Newton popular,

"Female nudity must be given to men with a teaspoon, not with a ladle."

- Coco Chanel
  • Whether a picture is about art, kitsch or even provocation is always in the eye of the beholder. A (also subjective) definition by Günter Rinnhofer : "A nude photo is good if the model shows it around the coffee table on the grandmother's birthday and those present like it."
  • Günter Rössler was concerned with a cautious nude photography that emphasizes naturalness.

Others are more controversial:

  • Jeff Koons' work ranges between kitsch and pornography.
  • Joel-Peter Witkin evokes strong emotions or even revulsion.
  • With her nude photographs, Nan Goldin shows inner fears and compulsions.
  • Photos by Bettina Rheims are considered provocatively erotic.
  • Nude photographs by Petter Hegre are on the verge of pornography.
  • With his fun happenings, Henning von Berg would like to consciously provoke the public and thereby stimulate thought.

Differentiation from other genres

Determining the aesthetic value of nude photography and distinguishing between nude photography and erotic photography is difficult to achieve intersubjectively, and there is also overlap with pornography - in contrast to pornography, however, nude photography does not aim to sexually arouse the viewer. Of course, this does not rule out that nudes are also viewed for this reason.

Nude photography and erotic photography are always caught between artistic freedom, aesthetics , kitsch , provocation and the violation of "good morals" or sexual morality .

Erotography versus pornography

lili rere
The boundaries between nude, erotic photography and pornography are fluid.

The distinction tries to take into account the changed sexual morality in the western world , which arose as a consequence of the so-called sexual revolution . In the latest literature on the subject of pornography, material is defined as "which sexually stimulates or can stimulate, but contains clearly aggressive elements, with aggressiveness already being present when people are devalued or degraded without the context stimulating reflection on it" [Def. after Herbert Selg]. Erotographic, on the other hand, is material that depicts sexuality without degradation and on the basis of the equality of those involved and that can fundamentally support prosocial actions. Artistic erotography is frivolous, but not obscene or vulgar, it can also depict sexual fantasies and not just everyday sexual life. If the world of erotography is a utopian one , then it shows the possibilities that lie beyond our daily sexual experience. Erotography is usually - but not always - aimed at sexual stimulation and shows physical intimacy ; but it aims at more than just the sexual stimulation of the viewer.

Erotography therefore includes artistic representations (e.g. nudes , eroticism in films, fiction, plays, poetry, etc.), erotic realism (e.g. erotic scenes in non-fiction and educational films , writings in which sexuality is an integral part of the human Life is depicted, depictions with nude look fashion elements, etc.) as well as erotica for sexual stimulation (e.g. erotic photography , so-called men's magazines , deliberate self-determined “soft-pornographic” violation of conventions and taboos à la Fanny Hill - in the case of sexual fantasies play dominance and inferiority a significant role).

But what is degrading is of course always dependent on the norms and values ​​of a society and cannot be fundamentally determined. Personality-related and situational factors decide whether pornography and erotography promote violent behavior and require an increase in dose or whether the individual's state of arousal leads to the sublimation of the drive potential.

In the legal literature it is stated that the boundaries from the artistic act to the revealing and erotic act to pornography are fluid. First of all, this should be related to the most varied of subjective opinions. Means: What some still see the provocative, revealing act in, has already crossed the line to pornography for some and the artistic value of the picture is more than questionable.

In other words: the boundaries between nudes, eroticism and pornography cannot be clearly drawn: what one person accepts without reservation may already be below the moral belt for the other and thus be pornographic. The jurisprudence, in turn, defines pornography “... as a rough representation of the sexual in drastic directness, which degrades people to a mere (interchangeable) object of sexual desire or activity of any kind in a way that incites the sexual drive or pulls sexuality into the dirt or ridicules it “(Fsm.de). Apart from that, the design limits are set wide and artistic freedom is even protected by the Basic Law.

Examples of nude photography

  • Male nudes

  • Wilhelm von Gloeden, act similar to the well-known picture Young Man on the Seashore by Hippolyte Flandrin , 1902

  • Carl Van Vechten : Nude representation of a white and a black man

  • Sarah Marie Jones: A Skinny Dipping Photo 3

  • Cosme Madini: "Waiting at Home"

  • Couple files
  • Nude couples.jpg
  • Nude photography couples 2.jpg
  • Nude photography couples3.jpg

literature

  • David Daye: Nude Photography . Munich 2001, ISBN 3-87467-774-5 .
  • Roger Hicks, Frances Schultz: nude photography . Munich 1997, ISBN 3-87467-698-6 .
  • Michael Köhler, Gisela Barche: The nude photo - aesthetics, history, ideology . Bucher, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7658-0675-7 .
  • Martin Sigrist, Matthias Stolt: The new nude photo school . Gilching 2000, ISBN 3-933131-00-6 .
  • Achim Sommer, Nils Ohlsen (Hrsg.): The act in the art of the 20th century . Wienand, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-87909-795-X .
  • Michael Köhler, Gisela Barche: Views of the Body - The Nude Photo 1840–1986. Ed. Stemmle, Schaffhausen, ISBN 3-7231-6900-7 .
  • William F. Ewing (Ed.): The Century of the Body - Figural Photography. Seemann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-363-00747-7 .
  • Nice naked. Nude photography in the GDR. Verlag Das Neue Berlin, 2009, ISBN 978-3-360-01957-8 .
  • DM Klinger: contemporary masters of erotic photography . Volume 16, DOMINIK ALTERIO BRD- W. Pavelec - Poland, Barry Pringle - GB, DMK Verlag - Nuremberg / now HB Wilson-DMK CO 1987 ISBN 3-923642-57-1 .

Web links

Commons : Nudes  - collection of images
Wiktionary: Nude photography  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Wurst: Exakta Kleinbild-Fotografie . 5th edition, VEB Wilhelm Knapp Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1956, p. 194.
  2. ^ "Girls of the GDR": Nude photographer Günter Rössler is dead. In: Spiegel Online . January 2, 2013, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  3. ↑ means Helmut Newton
  4. ↑ Helmut Gernsheim: History of Photography - The First Hundred Years (Propylaea Art History) 1983, p. 198.
  5. ↑ The nude photo. Views of the body in the photographic age. Aesthetics history ideology. Bucher Verlag, Munich 1985; P. 421.
  6. ↑ Decision of June 3, 1987, Az .: 1 BvR 313/85, BVerfGE 75, 369
  7. ↑ Naked city German photographer Henning von Berg captures the bare urban essentials of Berlin, Sydney - and now Montreal . ( Memento of July 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) In: Montreal Mirror , Divers / Cite 2005
  8. ↑ Article on the page Right on the picture, A tightrope walk between eroticism and pornography - Part 1
  9. ↑ Article about nude photography on the PC Magazin page, July 14, 2008 by Karl Stechl