The Nude in Dutch Art at Syracuse University Art Museum

February 27 2026

Image of The Nude in Dutch Art at Syracuse University Art Museum

Picture: Syracuse University Art Museum

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Syracuse University Art Museum will be opening their latest exhibition next month entitled Undressed: The Nude in Dutch Art, circa 1550-1800 (spotted via CODART).

According to their website:

This exhibition, encompassing twenty-one works in various media, surveys the portrayal of nudity and semi-nudity in a variety of subjects rendered by Dutch artists over several centuries. It will explore how the nude has been articulated, both artistically and contextually, to disrupt traditional ideas of nudity in art, which were primarily argued by Sir Kenneth Clark in The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1956).

In this influential text, Clark posited that the presence of the nude in art, existed above and beyond cultural circumstances, as a timeless, almost abstract ideal. He advanced a distinction between "naked" and "nude," with the latter explained as an idealization, or an evocation of timeless ideals. To the contrary, this exhibition presents nudity in art as a phenomenon that is time-bound and culturally determined.

The show will run from 17th March until 9th May 2026.

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