The epitome of high culture or an assault on public morality? The nude figure was one of the most controversial issues in Victorian art. It was also one of the most conspicuous categories for the visual image at every level, from elite paintings for the Royal Academy to mass-produced photographs and magazine illustrations.

Exposed: The Victorian Nude provides a fascinating overview of the nude figure—both male and female—and the intriguing role it played in Victorian art. While it concentrates on painting, sculpture, and drawing, this beautifully illustrated reference also explores the depiction of the body in other media—including photography, popular illustration, advertising, and caricature—and discusses the issues of morality, uality, and desire that are relevant even today. Since nudes were an important subject for most Victorian artists, Exposed: The Victorian Nude showcases dazzling artwork from such legendary masters as Millais, Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Whistler, and Sargent, as well as pivotal figures of early English modernism. Cutting across the conventional categories of style and period, this guide offers a fresh, engrossing vision of Victorian art and culture unmatched anywhere else.

• Beautifully produced and full of breathtaking artwork

• Nudes are perennially popular with art lovers

• Book serves as a catalog for a traveling exhibition from the prestigious Tate Gallery that will visit several US museums, beginning with the Brooklyn Museum in September 2002