Being nude : the skin of images / Jean-Luc Nancy and Federico Ferrari ; translated by Anne O'Byrne and Carlie Anglemire.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nancy, Jean-Luc, author.

Ferrari, Federico, author.

Contributor:

O'Byrne, Anne E. (Anne Elizabeth), 1966- translator.

Anglemire, Carlie, translator.

Standardized Title:

Nus sommes. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Nude in art.

Nudity--Psychological aspects.

Nudity.

Aesthetics.

Psychological aspects.

Physical Description:

v, 128 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

Translated from the French.

Summary:

"What does it mean to be nude? What does the nude do? In a series of constantly surprising reflections, Jean-Luc Nancy and Federico Ferrari encounter the nude as an opportunity for thinking in a way that is stripped bare of all received meanings and preconceived forms. In the course of engagements with twenty-six separate images, the authors show how the nudes produced by painters and photographers expose this bareness of thought and leave us naked on the verge of a sense that is always nascent, always fleeting, on the surface of the skin, on the surface of the image. While the nude is a symbol of truth in philosophy and art alike, what the nude definitively and uniquely reveals is unclear. In Being Nude: The Skin of Images, the authors argue that the nude is always presented as both vulnerable in its exposure and shy of conceptualization, giving a sense of the ultimate ineffability of the meaning of being. Although the nude represents the revealed nature of truth, nude figures hold a part of themselves back, keeping in reserve the reality of their history, parts of their present selves, and also their future possibilities for change, development, and demise. Skin is itself a type of clothing, and stripping away exterior layers of fabric does not necessarily lead to grasping the truth. In this way, the difference between being clothed and being nude is diminished. The images that inspire the authors to contemplate the nudity of being show many ways in which one can and cannot be nude, and many ways of being in relation to oneself and to others, clothed and unclothed"-- Provided by publisher.

"26 reflections on nude images from the history of Western art including Rembrandt, Goya, David Hockney and Nan Golden. The authors, both philosophers, develop an approach to the nude that involves shedding preconceived concepts and exposing ourselves to the fleeting sense that passes over the surface of the nude's skin and over the surface of the image"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note:

Nus sommes

Preamble

Acéphale

Bathsheba

Caress

Disfiguration

Equivocal

Fenestration

Goya

Humus

Incarnate

Joker

Khaos

Lumbar

Model

Nimbus

Optic

Presence

Quotidian

Resurrection

Scopophilia

Trans

Use

Veritas

We

X

Y

Zero.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780823256204

0823256200

9780823256211

0823256219

OCLC:

865711215