Adam : the image of the male nude in art / Edward Lucie-Smith.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The male nude occupies a dominant place in art from ancient Greece to the modern day Adam: The Male Figure in Art, a fascinating study by Edward Lucie-Smith, examines the male nude's complex social, political, and sexual contexts as well as its formal value in every medium, including painting, photography, and sculpture.In nine themed chapters, the male nude is presented in its many roles, from the masculine hero to the feminized youth, from the savage to the suffering victim, and from idealized beauty to realism. Within this framework, the changing attitude toward the male nude is considered, particularly following the emergence of photography and the subsequent depiction of models as naked rather than nude. Special consideration is given to nudity as subversion, exemplified in the work of avant-garde artists and such controversial photographers as Robert Mapplethorpe.At a time when men are reassessing their place in society and looking anew at what it means to be male, this is a timely insight into the depiction of the masculine in art.

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