Visit to Reed College

The Language of the Nude exhibit at Reed College was a great educational experience. It was nice to examine drawings from different locations and dates all at once and see them up close. The drawing that comes to mind when thinking back on our visit is “Funeral of a Hero” by Jacques Louis David. I could really understand the realism in this drawing because my art history class has observed his paintings before. Jacques Louis David likes to depict certain characters as Christ like, which was depicted in the drawing. The fallen nude hero was slumped over, imitating Christ which in a realism way speaks of David’s culture.
In today’s nude art, it may not look the same, but our artists now have different influences and culture which affects the art. Today we have media telling us what looks beautiful which can come through by which models are chosen to be used in current art. This may change depending on the country for which the culture would change.