*This content was translated by AI.
, by author Lee Ji-ho, who also serves as an Arthe columnist, retraces the world of art and censorship surrounding nude paintings in the late 19th-century modernist era. It was written to properly examine the "art beyond the line" that exists on a precarious boundary between art and obscenity.
, which long depicted idealized bodies wrapped in the language of myth and religion, began to gradually unveil themselves as they entered the modern era through the work of certain artists. They started to be used as bold expressive techniques that sometimes revealed ugly bodies filled with desire. However, this sparked debates between art and obscenity, and the naked body became an object of fear rather than one of praise.
, judges continuously censored artists' paintings and issued rulings declaring them dangerous. Yet, the artists of that era did not stop. They continued to cross the line, constantly creating their own nude paintings. Ironically, many very famous artists whose names are known today even by just hearing them lived through this period: Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Édouard Manet, Gustave Courbet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Amedeo Modigliani.
, why did some art have to be censored? starts from this question. It is a very interesting book that seeks to explore how art was sometimes controlled and why it was regarded as a threat, and how artists resisted while expanding the boundaries of art. Published by Arthe (The Korea Economic Daily), the book has 280 pages, measures 148×210mm, features a perfect binding, and is priced at 22,000 won.
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*This content was translated by AI.
