Isabel Bishop, Visiting Artist Lecture 1959

Isabel Bishop gives a lecture where she shows a series of slides talking about the history of the nude throughout the history of art. Bishop’s talk spans many periods in art history, ranging from Ancient Greek and Indian art, Italian Renaissance, Hellenistic art, all the way to Cubism and Abstraction. Bishop explains how the nude is the most complete example of the transmutation of matter into form. Bishop also talks about the subtle differences between painting, sculpture, and even poetry, going into depth on how these various mediums communicate with implicit and explicit messages. Bishop states that any image that is powerful–whether an image comprised of painting, sculpture, or words– is rooted in two essentials, a relation with the “austere tradition of design,” which she defines as order, and a relation with the “antique religion of sensuality” from which the nude derives its authority and momentum.