The nude, observed Kenneth Clark, the great art historian who wrote and presented the famous BBC television series Civilisation, is the one artistic genre that connects us directly with ancient Greece. “Even Picasso”, he noted with some amazement, refers back to classical archetypes of the nude. What would Clark have made of the selfie age, when we can all become nudes instantly? (For instance, John Legend here, in a picture posted by his wife on Wednesday.)
Presumably the naked photograph Justin Bieber posted on Instagram from his holiday in Bora Bora this week is not exactly a selfie, since someone else was apparently pointing the camera at his bum. It’s more like a cheekie. And yet as some Bieber fans have noticed in their enthusiasm for this teasing picture, it is also a nudie, not just in the sense of being unclothed, but achieving a grace and poise redolent of ancient Greek sculpture and so raising the human body to a work of art.
One Bieberphile even posted a clever mockup of an art gallery in which Bieber’s back shot has become a framed painting, “art exhibit A: an exquisite piece”.
It’s true. Bieber poses very artfully in his nude picture. He displays the kind of relaxed yet strong posture that Michelangelo would have loved.
The naked and the nude, insisted Lord Clark, are not the same thing. The raw human body, opined this connoisseur, is just like a sack of potatoes. We are not naturally beautiful. The harmony, calm and grandeur of nude beauty is something achieved and imagined: it is art. Bieber looks like Michelangelo’s David seen from behind, as drawn by Raphael in about 1504. In fact the pose is almost exact: all he needs is a slingshot. He is not naked. He is nude.
Michelangelo’s David expresses readiness and vigilance. It was hailed when first unveiled as a symbol of the Florentine republic, defying its enemies. David is getting ready to fire a stone at the enemy. He looks ahead with keen eyes. But he is relaxed. From behind, his buttocks hang easy. This mixture of keenness and calm is the kind of pose Greek sculptors first gave to statues of athletes 2,500 years ago.
Bieber is a modern David, pregnant with controlled energy. He appears to be preparing to dive into that blue water ahead of him. He’s keen like David, calm like David. No wonder the fans are excited.
Michelangelo too would be pretty stoked if he saw this.
