Thursday, February 12, 2015

How art deco stripped nudity of eroticism | The Japan Times

How art deco stripped nudity of eroticism | The Japan Times



How art deco stripped nudity of eroticism | The Japan Times http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/02/12/arts/art-deco-stripped-nudity-eroticism/#.VNylx_nF98E



"Alongside the streamlining of forms that characterise art deco, another element that evokes both the classical age, as well as certain totalitarian regimes, is the emphasis on healthy, unashamed, de-eroticized nudity.



At the time, nudism was something of a minor religion in places such as Germany, where the Freikorperkultur (Free Body Culture) of the 1920s had been coopted by the Nazis, and was expressed in such projects as Leni Riefenstahl’s movie “Olympia” (1938), which was certainly daring in its presentation of near naked bodies. French art deco shared this love of idealized nudity, as we see in Rene Lalique’s decorative clock motif for “Night and Day” (1926), where the crystal glass emphasizes the purity of the nude male and female forms."

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