Studies of the female nude have focused on the genre as a transhistorical category, both as a constitutive tradition of high art and as a site of voyeuristic pleasure. This recognition of the iconic status of the female nude within Western art (signifying Art itself) lays the foundation for a new project: enriching and problematizing the workings of the female nude in particular historical and cultural contexts. The goal of the panel is to bring together different perspectives on the female nude and thus begin to chart its histoires. To this end, we seek papers that interrogate the mechanisms of the female nude in relation to specific social formations and needs, and that address both the larger theoretical implications of the subject and the variations in significance implicit in diffferent historical circumstances. Possible topics include instances of female nudity in portraiture, political and allegorical imagery, pornography and erotica, religious art, and anthropology.

Send proposals (electronic or hard copy) to BOTH Pamela Fletcher and Maria Ruvoldt at the addresses below.

Proposal deadline: June 15, 2000