04.05.2019-01.10.2019

In its current exhibition, Villa Schöningen is showing female bodies from the point of view of female artists from five centuries. Alongside landscapes, portraits and religious themes, the female nude is one of the most frequently depicted motifs in art history. From the Venus of Willendorf in front
From 25,000 years to the present day performances and video installations, the naked body has fascinated artists over the centuries. Time and again, dealing with nudity and eros was also an exploration of taboos and a fascinating indicator of the sense of time. Acts have shaped art history like a sensor of the constitution of freedom of a society or epoch: restrained, ashamed, idealizing, sexualizing, politicizing, violent, tender, ugly or disturbing. Whether the “Maja” by Goya, the “Olympia” by Manet or “L'Origine du Monde” by Courbet and “Les Demoiselles d Avignon” by Picasso, it was always nudes that provoked art scandals and explored new stylistic territory.

Under the title “Nude - Female Bodies By Female Artists”, the female body will be shown from May 4 to October 1, 2019 in the Villa Schöningen in Potsdam, exclusively in depictions by female artists. Almost all forms of sculpture, drawing, painting, photography and video are represented. The main question is whether there is such a thing as a specifically female view of the naked body. Or whether such stereotyping in the feminist context characterizes visual patterns that do not stand up to a prejudice-free view beyond gender clichés.

Press release Villa Schöningen