1. Berger distinguishes between the "naked" and the "nude." "Naked" is to be without clothes. "Nude" is a form of art (p. 53). Based upon these definitions and the larger discussion of the terms, are photographs in Playboy "naked" women or "nude" women? Why do you think Playboy photographs its models to achieve "nakedness" or "nudity?"
2. Berger maintains that "the nude in European oil painting is usually presented as an admirable expression of the European humanist spirit" (p. 62). He goes on to say how men conducted business beneath oil paintings of nudes to remind them of their masculinity. How have our cultural associations with nakedness changed in the digital age, where the internet thrives on pervasive palaces of pornography and advertisements follow the mantra: sex sells?
3. What separates great art from the merely mediocre? Rate the following factors on their importance in establishing great art, and offer an explanation if applicable.
- How widely produced or commdified the art is
- How malleable it is in lending itself to other form, content, spoof, tweaked reproduction
- How many people see and recognize it
- The sheer level of detail / complexity
- The originality of its content
- The originality of its idea
- The importance of the physical things it depicts
- The importance of the symbolic things it depicts
- The reputation of its creator
(Any other categories that determine "greatness")
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