A naked portrait, like a nude, shows a person without any clothes on. But there is something about the imagery (and often the title) that tempts us to read the picture not as a traditional ‘nude’, but as a portrayal of a specific person. The figure comes across as a sitter with an identity of their own, not just as a model.
A naked portrait also strips away the social façade that comes with clothing. Almost every work in the exhibition was created because the artist wanted to explore an idea, or express certain feelings, as opposed to the tradition in which the portrait is commissioned by its sitter. These pictures were conceived as experimental and challenging, whereas portraiture generally tends towards cliché and flattery. We may even be required to view as portraits images which present the figure from the back, or focus on some particular part of the figure, leaving out the face.
