You have made some very valid and fine points here. I have to agree with them.
If I were to take up making images of beautiful naked women, I would no doubt find some (probably most) of them attractive. I might become aroused by being in the presence of a beautiful woman with not a thread of clothing on; after all, I am a human male who is attracted to women.
However, I am also married to a woman that I love deeply. Therefore, I would not make a pass at my model out of respect for my wife, my commitment to our marriage and our family - and out of respect for the model as well. That's just the way I would deal with the situation.
I find it both sad and unfortunate that nudity is regarded as something to be locked away and kept secret by the majority of people in western cultures, as if it is something unwholesome or is somehow "dirty" or "nasty."
JMHO but nudity is not "dirty" or "nasty" unless someone makes it that way.
More often than not, it is the viewer of the nude photograph that makes it "dirty" within the confines of his or her cranium rather than it being a case of the photographer making it "dirty" in the camera or darkroom.
My interest in this whole area has extended from an interest in portraiture. In portraiture, I tend to like images that reveal something vulnerable and honest in the subject. There's something great about a nude portrait, in that it can remove a whole lot of props that people hide behind. There can also be a sense of timelessness, in that you can compare a nudes from completely different timeframes, and there isn't always a lot of difference. We can be reminded of the commonality of our human experience.
I've mentioned earlier in this thread that I particularly appreciate Mona Kuhn's nudes taken in a French naturist community. In trying to analyze why these images appeal to me in particular, I've read up on naturism a little. Naturists are not the sex-addicted exhibitionists my Baptist upbringing would lead me to believe. The appeal of naturism can be: a desire to experience nature more closely through your senses; a desire to interact with people without the power struggles/social-status represented by clothing and possessions; a desire to live simply; a desire to return to a truer version of ourselves (which kind of echoes psychology's obsession with peeling back the layers of ourselves).
I also find it interesting that naturism has links with pacifism. Naturism has flourished in post-war periods. Naturism and pacifism are kind of both idealistic states, in my mind. However, both are incredibly vulnerable states of being, open to abuse.
Mona Kuhn talks about being interested in a multi-dimensional representation of who we are in her nudes, with sexuality being part of it. There's a great interview
here. We can't be fully human without sexuality. Neither can we be fully human, when only represented as sexual objects.
The success of Mona Kuhn's work, in my mind, lies in the trust between her and her subjects (and I can't help but wonder if it helps that she's a woman). If nudity is a vulnerable state, open to abuse by the person holding the camera, Mona Kuhn has diffused this power difference by immersing herself in the community and beginning from a point of relationship and trust.
I realize this is a very narrow portion of what "art nudes" are, but it's something that I appreciate right now, and have been thinking about considerably.
