For the most part, people are comfortable with nudes that depict beautiful bodies. Slender women and young men can pose pretty much however they like and the majority of people will be able to appreciate it. But in this day and age, if we’re being honest about it, the majority of people probably can’t really relate to it.
Stepping away from the beauty and into the reality is what separates John Coplans* from many other figurative artists. A photographer, Coplans found fame when he turned the camera on himself in his 60s and showed his aging body in the harsh light of truth. Because it’s uncomfortably authentic, his work is amazingly beautiful.
Self Portrait Upside Down, by John Coplans
Coplans, despite capturing everything about his body from the wrinkles on his hands to the tips of his toes, always left his face out of his photographs, taking away the idea that this effect of time is specific to someone and not a universal future for all of us… if we’re lucky.
Self Portrait Three Times, by John Coplans
*(We know that John Coplans is actually from England, BUT he didn’t start taking photographs seriously until the 1980s, 20 years after he emigrated to the U.S. Since most of his work was made here, we’re including him in this look at the nude in American history.)
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