The representation of the nude in art remained for many centuries avictory of fiction over fact. Beautiful, handsome, flawless, its great successwas to distance the unclothed body from any uncomfortably explicit taintof sexuality, eroticism, or imperfection. Here Frances Borzello contraststhe civilized, perfected artistic nude of Kenneth Clark’s classic, The Nude:A Study in Ideal Form (1956), with today’s depictions: raw, uncomfortable,disturbing. Grittier and more subtle, the new nude—both male and female—confronts us with the hidden issues and contradictions of the body andour relationship to it.Borzello’s story of the nude begins with a tale of life, death, and resurrection,exploring how and why the nude has survived and flourished inan art world that prematurely announced its demise. Subsequent chapterstake a thematic approach, exploring the nude in painting, portraiture,sculpture, performance, and body art; in the work of female artists; andin extreme and graphic expressions that intentionally push the boundariesof both art and our comfort zone.