In art, a motif (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motif_%28visual_arts%29) is a repeated idea, pattern, image, or theme.
The nude is a motif that is done very well by several modern photographers.
It is a motif that is most often not done well. The person dong the photos hopes to be called an artist instead of simply a voyeur (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=voyeur&db=*). My personal rough estimate is that it is extremely difficult to find an artist who does nudes without the slightest bit of eroticism.

figurenude (http://www.figurenude.com):
-n- -A figurenude is a sub-class of the nude art genre. A photograph, painting, or other can be a nude piece and it can be a figure piece and still not fall within this very specific division of art. It is made most clear by describing what it is not - as follows.


1. A figurenude is NOT documentary like a nude would be for medical purposes or other type instruction.


2. A figurenude is NOT done in an attempt to create sexual desire. They can be sensual, but a figurenude can NOT be erotic by design.


3. A figurenude does NOT involve the figure interacting with the viewer in any way besides eye contact and usually not even that.


4. A figurenude is two dimensional only. Sculpture, pottery, carving, etc. are not figurenudes


5. A figurenude is NOT vulgar or obscene. PORNOGRAPHY is relative to a viewers standards. To many, ANY nude can be PORN!


-adj-- A photograph or painting of a nude human created for the purpose of being art. Figurenude art is more about form and lighting than seeing an attractive person naked. Some images that were often called "simple nudes" on the Internet at the dawn of the 21st century were figurenude art. Most of the photographs they presented were not figurenude art. A photo with eye contact and a smile is NOT a figurenude.
You can see the figurenude art of the following artists within the figurenude (http://www.figurenude.com/)site proper or see their subset of the site by clicking on their names.
Tim Anderson (http://www.figurenude.com/Tim.Anderson/index.html)
Christian Coigny (http://www.figurenude.com/Christian.Coigny/index.html)
Linda Elvira Piedra (http://www.figurenude.com/Linda.Elvira.Piedra/index.html)
Steve Hardy (http://www.figurenude.com/Steve.Hardy/index.html)
Ray.Bidegain (http://www.figurenude.com/Ray.Bidegain/index.html)
Antoine deVilliers (http://www.figurenude.com/Antoine.deVilliers/index.html)
Curtis Neeley (http://www.figurenude.com/Curtis.Neeley/index.html)
Patrick Demarcherier (http://www.figurenude.com/Patrick.Demarchelier/index.html)
Jerry Avenaim (http://www.figurenude.com/Jerry.Avenaim/index.html)

Can you find the painter who also takes photos? These are the only that I have found thus far except Ian Leake, and Kim Weston who are consistently doing figurenude art. Kim preferred not to be on the site and Ian made it explicitly clear.

The general nude is an overly broad and over-saturated motif.
The figurenude is a relatively new sub-motif.
Film vs digital and APUG vs HYBRID...Who cares!
Any other artists you know of let me know at adminatfigurenudedotcom

Can you find the painter who also takes photos?


-try this link of german painter Hermann Foersterling:
www.foersterling.com/akt_1.html

-there's also the painter Lucien Freud, try a google search.

-currently at a great exhibition of Gustave Courbet at the 'Grand Palais' in Paris, among others, one of his most famous paintings: 'the origin of the world'
www.artchive.com/artchive/C/courbet/origin.jpg.html

I'd be courious to know what you think about it.

Sidney

Can you find the painter who also takes photos?

I'd be curious to know what you think about it.

Sidney

I sent my more comlete thoughts in a PM already, but this brought an area of the figurenude motif post to my/our attention that warrants a bit of clarification...

The question SHOULD have read as follows.
-----------------------------------------
"Can you find the artists with photography already on the http://www.figurenude.com site who is more widely accepted internationally as a figurenude painter?
----------------------------------------------
Here again I'll thank Sidney for his input.
:) I am looking for primarily other photographers. :)

66 pages of Curtis' figurenude art. This is the product of 18+ years of photographing the human figure. Figurenude has photos of a United States Marine corporal that Curtis photographed nude in 1991 and 1992.
........Figurenude has a person Curtis photographed from her late teens, prior to her first marriage and daughter, to her early thirties. Curtis photographed her the morning her daughter was born! The last spread has the first and the last figurenude image Curtis will ever take of her. She was the last person Curtis shot before his life altering car wreck and the first person he shot afterward.
........Every page with an entire photo is worthy of being mounted on a wall. The printing is that good. One could cut every page out and frame it as artwork. Who in their right mind would do that!
http://www.figurenude.com/Curtis.Neeley/Figurenude-spreadsSSpview/images/Figurenude-preview_a.jpg (http://www.figurenude.com/Curtis.Neeley/Figurenude-spreadsSSpview/pages/Figurenude-preview_a.html)
FRONT
13"x11" hardcover book with
100lb glossy paper. Edition of
1023 or less signed/fingerprinted copies.
click either the front or the back of book to see a 8 spread preview.
$937
http://www.figurenude.com/Curtis.Neeley/Figurenude-spreadsSSpview/images/Figurenude-preview_zzza.jpg (http://www.figurenude.com/Curtis.Neeley/Figurenude-spreadsSSpview/pages/Figurenude-preview_a.html)
REAR

One could cut every page out and frame it as artwork. Who in their right mind would do that!
Well--------------------------------------------------------
Suppose you have a 480 page book of photographs that documents a single man's voyeurism. A book that has no photo of the figure presented as an art object. SUMO is just such a book. A book that has an exaggerated value due to a false claim it was signed by the artist. That is simply a fraud. See people chopping it up for sale on eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/Big-Nude-Helmut-Newton-100-original-Sumo-COA_W0QQitemZ230370332751QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Ph oto_Images?hash=item35a324504f)!

Neustädter or Newton signed sheets that were then mounted into the object. The book itself was simply not signed. The Newton Foundation just re-issued the cheesy photography of Newton in a more manageable size. I wonder if you can request a signed copy of it? I also wonder if anything he ever signed can then be stuck in one now to allow it?
That would then be signed exactly like the first one was!

Figurenude has much better photography of the nude as an object of art. It has a guarantee that it is aesthetically superior to SUMO in its presentation of the figure as an object of art. If you can get the majority of fifty random viewers to prefer the images in SUMO to those in Figurenude as presentations of the figure as art, you will receive a refund and fifty dollars. You have a better chance of winning the lottery because there is just no chance that any random audience will do that. This guarantee stands even if you do not even own the books that you use.

Another guarantee is the Curtis Neeley Foundation's latest assurance to collectors. The foundation guarantees that any person who buys a piece of art that Curtis J Neeley Jr signs may return it for 1-30 days for a full refund, 30-365 days for an 80% refund, 366-730 days for an 60% refund, 730-913 days for an 65% refund and from 913-36500 days for a 50% refund.

The art must be returned in pristine condition and may be returned for any reason at all or no reason at all.

Due to bindery issues the book Figurenude may have a few more extra pages or a few less. It will have more or less blank pages at the beginning and end. You will probably never be able to afford my photos as a book. It is online for free for people like you and me who will never be able to buy it. On eBay, anyone who pays 1,031.00 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Figurenude-the-book_W0QQitemZ220490749864QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAntiq uarian_Collectible?hash=item335645d7a8) or more for Figurenude will also get Neustädter's book as the ten-year anniversary issue of SUMO.

http://www.figurenude.com/Curtis/Figurenude-spreadsSSpview/images/Figurenude-Alibris-preview.jpg (http://www.figurenude.com/Curtis/figurenude-book-preview/index.html)
Figurenude
14"x11" hard
cover book
w/100lb paper
$937/ea at only 1023 copies
signed/fingerprinted by Curtis J Neeley Jr., MFA
Preview both above as PDFs with the free Adobe reader.

http://www.figurenude.com/Curtis/figurenude-book-preview/sFpPv.jpg (http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/679573)
8" X 10" Smaller Figurenude Photographs
$50-$68/ea at BLURB
This is limited just like the book SUMO was....
In-other-words, - - its an unlimited and unsigned issue.

It is online for free for people like you and me? Most will never be able to buy it. You can see it free as long as the bandwidth cost are acceptable.
It was done as art and art should be freely shared.

http://www.curtisneeley.com/eandimages.gif (http://www.curtisneeley.com)
Curtis J Neeley Jr., MFA
Paralyzed, brain-damaged photographer