Reclining Rebellions: The Influence of the Reclining Nude in Modern Art

Jeannine Cannon

Abstract:

The reclining nude frequently operates as a subject for investigating issues of sensuality, sexuality, attractiveness, and vulnerability. During the Classical period, the depiction of a naked woman recalls the figure of Venus, who frequently symbolizes beauty, fertility, and love. These ideas are depicted in two highly acclaimed and influential paintings of the reclining nude: Venus of Urbino (after Titian) by Agostino Rosi, 1772, and The Birth of Venus by Alexandre Cabanel, 1863. Despite the fact that these paintings, along with similar ones, portray a naked woman, they do not convey a sexual tone. This essay argues that the Avant Garde utilized the features of the reclining nude to question societal norms and conventions. These characteristics include concern for the portrayal of the human body, the specific types of women deemed suitable for such paintings, and the political implications associated with these choices. I examine artists such as Édouard Manet, Gustave Courbet, and Auguste Renoir, among others, who who brought back the prominence of the reclining nude but departed from the rigid and flawless painting styles of the past with the intention to provoke a reaction from the middle class.

Keywords:

Reclining Nude, Rebellion, the Avant Garde, Manet, Courbet, Renoir

How to Cite this Paper: Cannon, Jeannine. 2024. “Reclining Rebellions: The Influence of the Reclining Nude in Modern Art.” CUNY Manifold, June 2024. https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/jeannine-cannon-reclining-rebellions-the-influence-of-the-reclining-nude-in-modern-art/section/6280c344-4402-41b6-ba58-8583efec3600

The reclining nude often serves as a subject for exploring themes of sensuality, eroticism, beauty, and vulnerability. Artists approach this subject with different styles and interpretations, ranging from realistic to abstract, and from idealized to more raw and naturalistic representations. The Avant Garde during the art movement took the characteristics of the reclining nude and used it as a means of challenging societal norms and conventions regarding the representation of the human body, the types of women worthy of being the subject of such a painting, and the politics that revolve around those answers.

The reclining nude is seen throughout many art movements and has carried with it various significances depending on the period, artist, and context. In the Classical period, the nude woman harkens back to Venus, who often represents beauty, fertility, and love. This is conveyed in two of the most recognized and influential paintings of the reclining nude: Venus of Urbino (after Titian) by Agostino Rosi, 1772, and The Birth of Venus by Alexandre Cabanel, 1863. Even though these paintings (and others like them) depict a nude woman, they do not feel sexual—that begins to change during the modern art movement when the reclining nude once again gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with artists like Édouard Manet, Gustave Courbet, Auguste Renoir, et al., who left behind the rigid and flawless painting styles of the past to explore the depiction of the female form in various states of repose with the intent to create a stir for the bourgeois. Paintings by these artists in this period invoked themes of eroticism and other complex emotions while challenging societal norms.

Venus of Urbino (c. 1534). Oil on canvas 119.2 x 165.5 cm (46.9 x 65.1 in). Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Public Domain.

In the 19th century, the reclining nude was a subject that artists utilized to critique societal norms and political structures. The chosen pose challenged gender roles and critiqued class hierarchies, identity, liberation, and empowerment, revealing the moral hypocrisies of the bourgeois. Gustave Courbet was a master at provoking the intense reactions of the elite class. 

La Femme au perroquet (Woman with a Parrot) (1866). Oil on canvas, 129.5 cm × 195.6 cm (51.0 in × 77.0 in). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public Domain.

Courbet’s Woman with a Parrot, 1866, shocked audiences by showing a nude woman with disheveled hair, laying on her back with a jovial expression, and an exotic parrot balancing on her hand. The normalization of an indecent and perhaps erotic woman was something that people in the higher echelon of society found appalling. Inspired by Courbet’s rejection of academic conventions and commitment to honestly depicting everyday life, Édouard Manet left behind the depictions of goddess-like perfections and furthered the narrative of a liberated nude woman with his painting Olympia, 1863. Manet used Venus of Urbino (after Titian) by Agostino Rosi, 1772, as inspiration. In this painting, a nude woman sits in a reclined position, unashamed. She stares directly at the viewer. She is adorned with a bracelet, necklace, earrings, heels, and a flower in her hair. She lays on an embroidered blanket, with a black cat on the edge of the bed, while a servant presents a bouquet of flowers. When Manet presented Olympia at the 1865 Salon, she was met with extreme criticism and disdain. “The critic Geronte (ibid.) called Olympia “that Hottentot Venus with a black cat, exposed completely naked on her bed like a corpse on the counters of the morgue, this Olympia from the rue Mouffetard [a notorious haunt of prostitution at the time], dead of yellow fever and already arrived at an advanced state of decomposing” (Bernheimer, Charles). Manet propagated the painting with myriad symbolic items that added to the public’s outrage. Critic Lesso wrote, “The arched black cat in the right was a recognized symbol of sexual promiscuity, while Olympia’s servant in the background is clearly bringing her a bouquet of flowers from a client. Women working as ‘demi-mondaines’ were rife across 19th-century Paris, but they performed a secret practice that no one talked about, and it was extremely rare for an artist to represent it in such a flagrantly direct way.”

It was not only the content and composition of the subject matter in Olympia; Manet also radically departed from the acceptable classical painting styles. His use of bold brushwork, flattened perspective, and the direct gaze he applied to his subject defied academic conventions, sparked controversy, and marked a pivotal moment in the transition from classical to modern art. Instead of idealizing his subject, he presented a stark and confrontational image, upending notions of beauty standards and propriety previously held. Even in the very name of his painting, Manet was intent to instigate. In 19th century Paris, the name “Olympia” was a commonly favored pseudonym among prostitutes; Manet’s title added yet another layer of provocative social commentary, forcing his audience to draw a direct association with sex workers. Ultimately, Manet and Olympia created a spark that lit the fire for future artists to create acts of rebellion and stir up controversy with their paint brushes.

Olympia (1863). Oil on canvas, 130.5 × 190 cm (51.4 × 74.8 in). Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Public Domain.

Decades later, in the 20th century, another artist shook the art world with her provocative portrayal of female nudity, following in the footsteps of Manet and Courbet and challenging societal norms and traditional representations of women in art. Valadon was unlike many of her female painting peers. She was unconventional—“one of the boys”—and represented and hired working-class women to model for her paintings.

“Unlike bourgeois artists such as Morisot and Cassatt, Valadon not only chose predominantly working-class models for her images of nudes but even preferred them. Her many images of large, buxomly women with unidealized features (according to the standards of beauty of the period, at least) show a variety of physical and emotional states, without over stereotyping” (Mathews 419). Valadon regularly exhibited her work at the Salon d'Automne in Paris, and in 1928 she exhibited her very own Reclining Nude. In lockstep with the reception of works by Manet and Courbet, the public found Valadon’s work distasteful and were shocked at her representation of a woman. Reclining Nude shows a woman, placed in a claustrophobic canvas, squeezed onto a couch. The angle of her crossed arm resting against her soft body and her crossed legs denies the observer any pleasure from her nudity. Similar to Olympia, she stares directly at the viewer, confirming that she is aware that she is being observed, and she begins to cover herself in response. With this composition, Valadon gives the painted subject autonomy: she is not an object to be passively observed but rather an active participant. The Reclining Nude and the many other works created by Valadon challenged society's perceptions of women, especially working-class women. Before she became an accomplished painter, Valadon worked as an art model. While this was undoubtedly where she honed her skills at drawing and painting, she was also undoubtedly the subject of the male gaze. Valadon painted multiple nude figures in a reclined position, intent on presenting a constant challenge for the bourgeois and the status quo. Her work conjured empowerment for middle-class women and gave them autonomy. While members of the 20th-century Paris bourgeois were critical of her provocative work, through The Reclining Nude and her subsequent oeuvre, Valadon asserted her position as a pioneering artist whose bold exploration of the female form continues to inspire and resonate with audiences, cementing her legacy in the history of modern art.

Reclining Nude - painting by Suzanne Valadon. Public Domain.

Édouard Manet's Olympia (1865), Gustave Courbet's Woman with a Parrot (1866), and Suzanne Valadon's Reclining Nude (1928) reverberate through the annals of modern art history. Each of these cornerstone masterpieces shaped the course of artistic expression in profound ways. With their themes of defiance of convention, leaving behind the structured style of the past, acknowledging the truths of society, and challenging notions of beauty and propriety, the works these artists left us paved the way for a new era of artistic exploration and freedom. Collectively, these works sparked debates, stirred emotions, and inspired generations of artists to embrace authenticity and challenge traditions.

Jeannine Cannon (she/her) is an artist and student based in Brooklyn, New York. Trained as a painter and illustrator, she is currently focusing on digital art and animation. Her work often reflects issues of mental health, social justice, and an exploration of self.

Works Cited

Bernheimer, Charles. “Manet’s Olympia: The Figuration of Scandal.” Poetics Today, vol. 10, no. 2, 1989, pp. 255–277, www.jstor.org/stable/1773024?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents, https://doi.org/10.2307/1773024.

Lesso, Rosie. “What Was so Shocking about Edouard Manet’s Olympia?” TheCollector, 26 Aug. 2022, www.thecollector.com/what-was-shocking-about-manets-olympia/.

Mathews, Patricia. “Returning the Gaze: Diverse Representations of the Nude in the Art of Suzanne Valadon.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 73, no. 3, Sept. 1991, p. 415, https://doi.org/10.2307/3045814.

Moffitt, John F. “PROVOCATIVE FELINITY in MANET’S “OLYMPIA.”” Source: Notes in the History of Art, vol. 14, no. 1, Oct. 1994, pp. 21–31, https://doi.org/10.1086/sou.14.1.23205579.