Exposed: The Victorian Nude

The art form that caused such a headache among other discomforts for the Victorians is the subject of Exposed: The Victorian Nude, which explores depictions of the body in 19th-century British art. Tate curator Alison Smith (The Victorian Nude: Sexuality, Morality, and Art) looks at the unprecedented proliferation of nudes (previously rare in British art) under Victoria's reign, and at the passionate debates they provoked about decency and art. Though Smith touches on photography and illustration, she focuses mainly on painting, with full-color reproductions of works by Rossetti, Burne-Jones and others. The book accompanies a Tate exhibition that will travel to the U.S. this fall, including a stop at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York City, where the new mayor seems less of a cultural watchdog than his predecessor. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.