The Everlasting Female Nude
Curated by
Adele Smejkal
It was around 25,000 BC when the earliest form of the female nude appeared. The female nude has continued to be a popular subject through the centuries, being painted in more frivolous surroundings. From an art history perspective, we could categorize nudes into two groups; ‘The Suspiciously Perfect’ female nude that stems from Greek tradition: curvy Aphrodites, crouching, and stretching. And the‘Truthful Female Nude’ which comes from the so-called Gothic tradition according to Kenneth Clark and his study ‘The Nude’. Here the body is raw; with all its details and imperfections it’s almost depressingly revealing.
What about the nude of the 21st century?
The Everlasting Female Nude manifests the great theme of nudes narrated from today’s emerging and contemporary artists’ perspectives.
To assess the societal shift of gender quality and correct the historical imbalance of mostly male artists painting female nudes,‘The Everlasting Female Nude’ employs both women and men artists.
The nude in art should come in as many varieties as there are bodies in the world.
Adele Smejkal
Jennifer Smith
Jennifer Smith’s work is an exuberant take on the female nude and female narratives. Her work interrogates the female body through a female lens, playfully incorporating contemporary scenes and historical depictions. In her application of paint, there is urgent, frenetic energy.
Douglas Cantor
"I am constantly collecting thoughts, phrases and images; from around, from conversation, from my own writing, from my every day, to me my practice works as a journal, a kind of diary to record them and make sense of them.’
Josie Devine
"I'm Josie, a self-taught independent Scottish artist based in London. My work explores the shapes, movements and gestures of the female form; using line, colour and texture to create bold impressions. Basically, I’m all about the babes."
Amy Beager
Amy Beager’s paintings emerge as a fresh new voice within the new figurative scene. Her bold and graphic paintings reimagine mythological characters through an emotive and fluid language. Predominantly featuring women, the figures are often inspired by fashion imagery, which are re-worked into modern-day deities, transcending their stature and presence.
Ines Tahiri-Alaoui
F ascinated by the female form and the curvaceous lines that shape it, tInes is aking the female silhouette into her own unique dimension. Abstract art has always been an area of interest for Inès, as she enjoys the freedom it gives to the artist and the concept of a piece being forged from a feeling or emotion.
Carmen Chaparro
In this work there is a heavy emphasis on sunlight, pools at night and water. The figure is generally present but sometimes realized through other objects such as pottery or pool floats. There is an ambivalence and lack of specificity forcing one to become an observer rather than a participant in the scene.
Adele Smejkal is an art entrepreneur, curator and arts writer based in London. She spent over 3 years at Sotheby’s London while running various curatorial and writing projects on the side. In 2019 she co-founded an organization hosting curated art events. In spring 2020 she became a full-time time entrepreneur and launched her first online gallery & advisory called Artistellar. It is a platform, which focus on high-caliber emerging artists and present their works through actual curated exhibitions.
@as_artjournal
"The first time I painted a horse was also the first time that I painted exactly what I wanted to paint. It was a very honest and freeing moment, a moment that became my compass for making, so the symbol is very dear to me"
"The paintings are in conversation with contemporary figure painting while also speaking to a disturbance of the idyllic space."
I am not interested in representing women in normal conventions of beauty. The reference of mythological characters add meaning to the paintings. These women are not afraid of the gaze."
"I am experimenting with symbolism in my work, currently inspired by Greek mythology and how views on the female body are relatable in contemporary culture."