1990s (the magazine has since changed its policies, and
no longer publishes nudes of any race),National Geo-
graphicpresented nude or semi-nude photos of mem-
bers of several African tribes (Nuba, Zulu, Dyak, and
Masai, among others), several tribes of South Amer-
ican Indians (including the Jivaro and Urueu-Wau
Wau), residents of Yap Island, New Guinea, and the
Adama Islands, and even African-American entertain-
er Josephine Baker. But not one person of Caucasian
ancestry was similarly displayed.
Erotica is, of course, designed to prompt sexual
desire. As such, erotic nudes are often confused
with pornography by consumers, critics, and
courts. The essential difference is one of artistic
intent and skillful execution. American law defines
pornography as that which lacks redeeming social
value. Erotica, therefore, is that which possesses
such value. In America, pubic hair in a photograph
was long considered a mark of pornography and
was thus shunned by respectable photographers—
although this distinction fell by the wayside in the
1970s. This distinction has been similar in Japan,
where censorship of nudes was rigorous into the
1980s, and so-called ‘‘hair nudes’’ freely published
and shown only in the closing years of the century.
As late as 1986 leading photographic magazines
publishing artistic nudes have been prosecuted for
obscenity. Nudes by Araki Nobuyoshi helped
break down these long-standing taboos, and
books featuring ‘‘fully’’ nude photographs of tele-
vision and movie actresses were runaway best sell-
ers in the late 1990s.
Important photographers in the erotica genre
include Bunny Yeager, a former ‘‘figure model’’
herself who achieved fame in the 1950s photo-
graphing model Betty Page; Helmut Newton,
whose often fetishistic nudes disturbed as often as
they stimulated, and Robert Mapplethorpe, whose
explicit homoerotic photographs caused consider-
able controversy in the last two decades of the
century. A subcategory of erotica includes histor-
ical male nude photography by fashion or glamour
photographers such as George Platt Lynes.
Advertising in America (although not in Europe)
has tended to shy away from nudity, unless it is
portrayed very discreetly. J. Frederick Smith, well
known as a pin-up illustrator, was also a master at
creating beautiful but culturally acceptable nudes
for magazine advertising. Fashion magazines,
whose editorial content is itself a form of advertis-
ing, have been less restrained. Beginning in the
1960s, publications likeVogueandHarper’s Bazaar
often featured elegantly photographed nudes or
semi-nudes by such masters of the form as Richard
Avedon, Hiro, and Irving Penn.
Body culture, a term originating in Germany’s
Weimar Republic in the 1920s, includes athletics,
body building, and nudism. Nudity and athletes
have a long association, since the competitors in
the original, Greek Olympics are said to have com-
peted in the nude. In acknowledgement of this
tradition, the official poster for the 1912 Stock-
holm Olympics featured several nude athletes,
their genitals carefully hidden. Posters for the
Olympics of 1920 (Antwerp), 1924 (Paris), and
1952 (Helsinki) also featured artistic photos of
nude male competitors. Discreetly posed photos
of Olympic athletes constituted the cover story of
the July 1996 issue ofLifemagazine.
Body builders, by definition, desire their mus-
cular forms to be displayed, and such exhibitions
have usually involved minimal clothing so as to
maximize the aesthetic experience for the viewer.
Some body builders have dispensed with clothing
entirely, posing for photos in the nude. Photogra-
phers specializing in unclothed male bodybuilders
include David Leddick, Reed Massengill, and Don
Whitman. Bill Dobbins and Paul Goode have
been among those best known for focusing on fe-
male competitors.
Nudism is a philosophy that contends that the
human body is inherently beautiful, and maintains
that nudity is not necessarily sexual. Nudist orga-
nizations have been publishing magazines portray-
ing this lifestyle for decades, the first of which was
the German magazineGymnos. The first American
nudist publication was The Nudist, founded in- Nudist photography typically features sub-
jects of both genders, all ages, and a wide variety of
body types. Lighting is generally natural, artificial
poses are discouraged, and anything smacking of
erotica is shunned.
Photojournalism is characterized by three ele-
ments: timeliness (it is part of the record of contem-
porary events); objectivity (the image accurately
depicts the event that took place); and narrative
(combines with verbal elements to give a coherent
account). Probably the best known example of the
nude in photojournalism is Nick Ut’s 1972 Pulitzer
Prize winning photo of a nude, preadolescent Viet-
namese girl fleeing her napalmed village. Many
photojournalists had difficulty finding a market for
nudes, since few mainstream publications would
publish ‘‘full frontal nudes,’’ and only a limited num-
ber would consider more modest depictions, such as
those involving a rear or side view of the subject.
These policies were relaxed somewhat beginning in
the 1980s, and it became possible to find discretely-
portrayed nudes (i.e., no genitalia on view) in pub-
lications such asTime,Newsweek,andPeople.
NUDE PHOTOGRAPHY