Exposed: The Victorian Nude

The nude was one of the most controversial subjects in Victorian art. At the same time, it was one of the most prevalent, from Royal Academy paintings to mass-produced photographs and magazine illustrations. This exhibition will be the first to survey the full range of Victorian representations of the nude, both male and female. While concentrating on painting, sculpture, and drawing, this exhibition will also explore the depiction of the nude in photography, popular illustration, advertising, and caricature. Cutting across conventional categories of style and period, Exposed: The Victorian Nude will offer a fresh and challenging vision of Victorian art and culture, as well as a new historical perspective on some of the moral and psychological preoccupations of our own time. Six major themes will encompass the many stylistic changes within the nineteenth century-from the Old Masterly style of the early Victorian period, through Pre-Raphaelitism, Aestheticism, High Victorian Classicism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism.