Critical Analysis of Artwork

     I chose a photo that was done by a 12^th grader from the Air Academy School.  It was best of show and rightfully so!  The details are extraordinary and it is such a beautiful piece of art called Maeve McCarthy. 

    To be naked is to be oneself.  To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself.  Naked is to be without disguise.  Nudity is a form of dress(54).  These are all points Berger makes in his book Ways of Seeing.  For some the first thought of either word nude or nudity, is being bare with nothing to cover your body with, and as he explains different examples in the book of different art pieces that clearly shows this to be true.   I do not think nude and nudity has to be expressed this way.  Without clothes is not the only way to be naked or nude. Just to be seen by yourself or how others might see you in a way that is not you can be shown through expression of your face, the way you are thinking you look or feel while the portrait is being done can be betrayed differently through what an observer sees. 

     

       In the European tradition artwork, nakedness and nudity of woman baring it all are shown throughout chapter three.  Different from the painting Allegory of Time and Love by Bronzino, where the woman is facing the observer, and she is appealing to him and what he wants to see such as sexuality,  in Maeve McCarthy ,you may not see her entire body but she is doing the opposite of Bronzino’s artwork.  She is naked with being just herself for herself.  The thoughts she wants to portray and vibes that she throws at the observer are sincere with no hidden agenda.  Her facial expression and details that draw you to the picture such as her freckles, colored eyes, and highlighted hair, are all apart of observing and deciding weather she is naked as herself or nude for others to decide.  

     As John Berger points out in Ways of Seeing, a woman’s presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her.  Her presence is manifest in her gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings, taste- indeed there is nothing she can do which does not contribute to her presence (46).  The Maeve McCarthy is a young woman whose piercing eyes stare right at you.  From the slight tilt of the head to the loose strands of red hair standing out from the green background, this head shot expresses her attitude.  Though she may not be smiling with her mouth here, the expression “smiling with your eyes” helps shows us that she is not sad or worried some.  The tilt of the head and the messy hair shows relaxation.   

   

     With a woman’s presence weather with or without clothes, shows us she is naked or nude with her details of expression, surroundings, and clothes.

   

Berger,John.  Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books, 1972. Print.