Naked: The Nude in America
It is important to note that the author of this oversize survey of the history of the representation of the male and female nude in American art is a cultural historian, not an art historian. That is an important fact for the reader to know upfront, not for judging the quality of his perceptions, but for realizing from the outset his perspective, which is announced in the first line of his introduction: “The mind-boggling contradictions of American culture are nowhere as obvious as in its constantly shifting attitudes towards the naked human body.” In theme-based chapters that move in chronological order from colonial to modern times, Dijkstra develops such topics as the changing perceptions of female roles in society, the “incursion” of physical realism, nudity for shock value, and the pin-up-girl craze, all augmented, of course, by a wondrous array of illustrations. For the student of cultural and art history; care should be taken by the librarian that pages are not lifted from the book. --Brad Hooper