Few art subjects are more ancient, enduring, and controversial than the nude female form. From early prehistoric figurines like the Venus of Willendorf to Praxiteles’ Knidian Aphrodite statue, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, and Manet’s Olympia, art depicting nude women has not only served as a vector of creative expression but as a mirror of society’s attitudes toward women for thousands of years. Tellingly, the reflections in that mirror have not always been pleasant and often reveal long-standing biases with which societies worldwide are still grappling. The Italian Early Renaissance artist Masaccio’s Expulsion from the Garden of Eden is a prime […]