This briskly paced survey of the history of the nude figure in art covers an astounding block of time (since the Paleolithic Age!) in a compact 100 minutes divided among four themed episodes: the Classical, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Modern. Featured art historian Tim Marlow has a smooth, hyper-articulate delivery and a youthful demeanor well-suited to contemporary TV, while his historical reach is about as extensive as one could ask for. Marlow begins with the 25,000-year-old statuette of a robust female considered to be the oldest nude sculpture in existence, before moving on to the ideal forms of Greek and Roman male athleticism, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel figures, the Florentine school's greatest achievements (Botticelli and Giotto are among those covered), the more confrontational modernist nudes (including those by Manet, Picasso, and Bacon), and the deliberately empty postmodernism of Damien Hirst and others (along the way, Marlow also considers the effect of early photography on painted images of the body). Marlow's breezy expertise is accompanied by comments from the authoritative Cambridge scholar Chris Kelly, whose dry academic approach is nevertheless filled with brilliant insight—especially in his explanation of how pictorial representation of the human form relates to power and politics over the centuries. One of the most informative, dynamic series on art history to come along since Sister Wendy's heyday, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Sandlin)
The Nude in Art with Tim Marlow
(2010) 100 min. DVD: $29.99. Microcinema International (avail. from most distributors). Volume 26, Issue 3
The Nude in Art with Tim Marlow
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