Ariane Lopez-Huici, Dalila, 2001. Courtesy of the Artist.

“I like any nude that isn’t classical, any naked body that doesn’t look like Michelangelo’s David or the Apollo Belvedere…. I like that word “newd” because it brings together the idea of nude and lewd in an entirely satisfactory way.”

Thus spoke Linda Nochlin – patron saint of all feminist-leaning art historians, author of the now famous question “Why have there been no great women artists?” (If you’re curious about Nochlin, here’s a Wikipedia entry about her). 

I recently came across this great little essay by Linda Nochlin: Offbeat and Naked

I also like Nochlin’s neologism: “Newd” – it has that great subversive quality: Nude, stripped of it’s historical conventions; Nude, reclaimed, reinvented, refashioned; Nude, fleshy, sexy, pulsing, desirable.  It’s like womyn-with-a-trasgressive-Y – the Y that implies strong, sassy, fierce, proud femininity completely devoid of any patriarchal connotations of weakness or dependency.  The new newd is not simply fat and sexy; s/he is sexy BECAUSE s/he is fat… and warm and sensuous and all-too-alive.

“Fat is in and it is sensational,” Nochlin continues. “Maybe it’s because of the emphasis on thinness in our social practice and the predominance of the superwaif model in Vogue, but transgression often means FLESH in contemporary sculpture, painting and photography… one time in our history fat was equated with power and authority, including sexual authority—loss of weight means loss of power, and we don’t have to drag Rubens in to make the point.”

And we don’t need “Rubens”—or any other historical precedent—to make the point, precisely because when we look at pictures like the one above there is no doubt that fat is powerful, authoritative, and sexy.

I’m excited to hear your thoughts about this photo and artist and Nochlin’s own understanding of the place of fat, newd art.

For more information on Ariane Lopez-Huici, a fabulous photographer, enjoy her website.

To read about another wonderful fat artist, enjoy my post about Laura Aguilar.

Jennifer is an art historian working in a major D.C. museum. She believes that art allows us to transcend and scrutinize our cultural perceptions and hopes to share this experience with you.