CHAPTER 10THE NUDE IN STEREOROBABLY MANY OF YOU who read this have no experience in
P pictorial work, either in photography or any of the arts. If so
you probably wonder why the importance of the nude is stressed
to such an extent. In short, why photograph the nude?
There are many reasons. The nude is the human being; the
clothed figure is hardly more than an advertisement for the cloth-
ing industry. You cannot effectually pose the draped figure until
you know, thoroughly, the form and function of the body which
supports the clothes. Then too, the human figure, particularly the
female, is the most beautiful object we know. This is not a matter
of the forbidden or of the unknown. It is a simple matter of color
and texture, of contour and shadow gradation, of line and inher-
ent grace of movement. If a clay figure could be made which
exactly duplicates the body, it would serve almost as well as the
living human. However such imitation is impossible, for at each
movement there are subtle changes of the underlying skeleton
and muscular structure which are reflected upon the surface. One
of the great attractions of the nude lies in its infinite variety.
The nude figure comprises the sum of all the important prob-
lems which the photographer has to face. If you can make a good
nude, you can make a good photograph of anything. Nothing
else can give the training in lighting and posing which this does,
and nothing can lead to such a long series of disappointments;
that is, if you take real pride in your work and are not satisfied
with a mediocre result.
But all of this has to do with technique. There is to this prob-
lem another aspect, which is so important and so wholly absurd
at the same time, that it must be straightened out. This is the
layman’s conception that the nude is offensive. For the most part
we have two great groups. One group states that the nude is ob-
scene per se. The other group simply replies that the artist should
be above such considerations and be permitted special privilege
in the matter. Both points of view belong to an age which could
produce the inquisition and the witch hunt. Both are so utterly
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