Rodin's Kiss leads two centuries of the nude at the Auckland Art Gallery

The Body Laid Bare, Masterpieces from the Tate
Auckland Art Gallery
Until July 16

The gleaming white marble is instantly recognisable. Two figures, their arms entwined in embrace, time stands still, their lips almost touching, their limbs tensed. This is Auguste Rodin’s sculpture The Kiss (1904), the most famous image of erotic love and the central artwork for the new show The Body laid Bare, at the Auckland Art Gallery

It’s one of more than 100 artworks from the Tate Gallery London and the first time it has been shown outside Europe. Its combination of figure study, tender love, mild eroticism and superb craftsmanship combines many of the qualities seen in other works in the show.

Images of the nude can often cause a bit of controversy so to have more than 100 images would have the potential to cause a wave of indignation and outrage but that seems unlikely with this show, which contains few truly erotic works.

The exhibition could almost be described as tasteful although some parents might want to shield their children’s eyes from a couple of the images. It features a range of images of the nude, including paintings, sculptures, photographs and prints by major artists such as Pablo Picasso, Lucian Freud, Henri Matisse, Louise Bourgeois, Barbara Hepworth and Sarah Lucas.

The works chosen for this exhibition are from the early 18th century through till the early 21st century. This means the history of the show covers a relatively short period in the history of the depiction of the figure. There are no classical pieces or works from the Renaissance to give a wider context. There is, however, Sir Hamo Thornycroft’s bronze statue of Teucer (1881), an Ancient Greek warrior and the de Chirico painting The Uncertainty of the Poet, which includes an antique bust.

Each artist in the exhibition offers a different way of looking at the naked human body. Some look tenderly; some idealise it; some look anxiously or politically. Together they show how the nude in art has persisted yet changed, shifting shape and acquiring new meanings in the hands of successive generations, from the idealising painters of the Victorian era to the artist-provocateurs of our time.

Each work brings with it a story about the artist as well as one about the work itself

Rodin’s The Kiss was made for an American collector living in England, Edward Perry Warren. Its blend of eroticism and idealism makes it one of the great images of sexual love. The couple shown are the adulterous lovers Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, from Dante’s Inferno which describes how they were moved to physical passion by reading of Lancelot's first embrace of Queen Guinevere. The book can just be seen in Paolo’s hand.

Rodin's large sculpture is complemented by another Rodin, Great Dancer from the galleries own collection. This work is said to be inspired by the dancer, Isadora Duncan, and is a work which would have been initially sculpted from clay by the artist whereas The Kiss has been created by carving into the stone.

It is pity the gallery did not make use of some of its other nudes from its collection to expand the show, notably the Henri Fuseli Temptation of Eve, the Guido Reni male nude St Sebastian and the Canova Venus Italica.

The earliest work in the exhibition is by William Etty. Candaules, King of Lydia shows his wife being secretly observed by one of his ministers, as she goes to bed (1830). While the artist intended the work to provide a moral lesson about women not being chattels and that men infringing on their rights should be punished the painting was controversial and seen as a pornographic retelling of an immoral story. The Times writing that it was “entirely too luscious... for the public eye."

Another work in the exhibition, The Knight Errant (1870), painted by John Everett Millais was probably influenced by Candaules depicting the sexual degradation of a woman.

In contrast to these is one of the final works in the show, three photographs by Rineke Dijkstra “Julie, Den Haag, Netherlands, February 29 1994; Tecla, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 16 1994; and Saskia, Harderwijk, Netherlands, March 16 1994. These three portraits of women made shortly after they had given birth bearing signs of their recent ordeal – the medical pants and sanitary towel which Julie wears, a trickle of blood down the inside of Tecla’s left leg, the caesarean scar on Saskia’s belly.

Among the male nudes is the painting by Sylvis Sleigh of Paul Rosano Reclining (1974) where the artist has depicted the male figure in a reverse of the notion of the male gaze with the exposed figure spread out in the stereotypical female pornographic pose.

Among the other important works are Pierre Bonnard’s The Bath (1925), Matisse’s Draped Nude (1936), Picasso’s Nude woman in a Red Armchair (1932) and Henry Moore’s Falling Warrior (1956).

The Picasso nude is also an example of the idea of the Artist and Model, which tended to emphasise the voyeuristic aspect of the artist’s depiction of the body. In that work there seem to be two entwined bodies, one the model, the other the artist. In a couple of the Picasso etchings, the presence of the artist is also indicated – iIn one by the presence of a hand and in another by a figure of the artist as an observer.

Christopher Nevinson’s A Studio in Montparnasse also suggests the artist’s presence by showing his painting propped up on a “donkey.” Stanley Spencer’s Double Portrait showing the artist and his wife is more of a self-portrait as is the series of untitled photographs by Cindy Sherman.

There are also several works on paper including small studies by JMW Turner which show his erotic interests as well as a series of etchings by David Hockney.

The entwined limbs of Rodin’s The Kiss have something of companion piece in Nud Cycladic (2010) the entwined stuffed stockings of Sarah Lucas.

The exhibition includes works of historical interest such as Anna Lea Merritt’s Love Locked Out, (1890) which was the first painting by a woman to be acquired by a British collection. Her depiction of Cupid, trying to force open the door of a mausoleum was made in memory of her husband, who died within three months of their marriage.

The depiction of the male nude by a female artist was a contentious issue in the late 19th-century art world. Merritt escaped censure by choosing to paint a child, rather than an adult.

The exhibition is not just a history of the nude but also about the way that artists have gone about their way of depicting the naked figure. It also tracks the changing social attitudes to the naked figure, love, sexuality and eroticism.

Tate public programme highlights to come:

Sunday March 26

11.15am and 2pm: Tour – Patricia Jean-Louis for French Language Day – Exhibition entry fee applies Join Patricia Jean-Louis for a tour through the exhibition in English (with a hint of French), focusing on the French artists Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin and Jean Hélion, as well as on artists who were based in France at some point, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Man Ray and Louise Bourgeois.

1pm: Talk – Chief Censor with Metro Editor: Censoring The Body Laid Bare –  Join chief censor Andrew Jacks and Metro editor Susannah Walker as they consider when ‘naked’ becomes ‘nude’, how this makes an image acceptable and/or justified, and when the body laid bare requires a censorship rating. 

Sunday April 2

1pm: Talk – Lonely founders Helene Morris and Steve Ferguson with Assistant Curator Emma Jameson – Free Join Helene Morris and Steve Ferguson, founders of lingerie brand Lonely, as they share their insights with Auckland Art Gallery Assistant Curator Emma Jameson.The Lonely advertising campaigns celebrate positive body image, expression and empowerment.