The Century of the Body

The portrait was a staple of photography from the medium’s birth, and so was pornography. It took the late-nineteenth-century tide of scientific, artistic, and social innovation, however, to sweep the shame out of aesthetically scrutinizing the photographed body, and it would take most of the succeeding century for photographers and viewers to see anything artful in old bodies and in body parts. At least, such a course of development seems apparent in photographic museum director Ewing’s chronological presentation of 100 images dating from 1900 to 2000. Naked youngsters predominate early on, while toward the end, such images as those of skinny, heavily veined arms; a naked 90-year-old woman; a hairy, soapy man’s back; and the computer-assisted rendering of a room made of flesh challenge aesthetic acceptance. Ewing’s informative and thought-provoking commentaries on the pictures aid in successfully meeting their challenges. Ray Olson