Nude vs. Naked

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In debriefing the day with the kids, Naomi commented on how all the art here has naked people in it and how Italy should really carry a PG-13 or R rating. The state of undress in the paintings and sculptures here have really bothered her. She has tried to shield her brother's eyes a few times from graphic images. As you can imagine, Sam does not appreciate her efforts to protect his innocence. Imagine a quiet art gallery and a 7-year-old boy shouting NAY OH ME (Naomi) and you're there. So I explained to them that in art, people are NUDE, not naked. It's an important difference. (I know nothing about art, but they did make that distinction in the movie Calendar Girls.) The kids found this distinction absolutely hilarious. Mom has never been so funny. So I did a quick Google on the subject and found this: Kenneth Clark opens his classic study, The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form, by pointing out that "The English language, with its elaborate generosity, distinguishes between the naked and the nude. To be naked is to be deprived of our clothes, and the word implies some of the embarrassment most of us feel in that condition. The word "nude," on the other hand, carries, in educated usage, no uncomfortable overtone. The vague image it projects into the mind is not of a huddled and defenseless body, but of a balanced, prosperous, and confident body: the body re-formed."
So it is an important distinction though I must say, I have never been nude in my life.

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