Nude art, which is often simply referred to as the ‘nude’, is the depiction of the naked human body in art. This nude art is usually depicted in drawings, paintings, graphics, photographs or sculptures. Today, the term nude art includes all depictions of unclothed human bodies or people - from early times to contemporary art.
The term ‘act’ comes from the Latin word ‘agere’, which means ‘to set in motion’ and ‘actus’, which means ‘gesticulation’. It originally refers to the movement of the human body. In painting, the term was used to describe the depiction of a pose and the transition of the model from one position to another.
In order to better depict the physicality of the person portrayed in these depictions of movement, they have always been nude. This allowed the nude artist to better capture and depict the body proportions and muscle groups in nude painting. The model was not allowed to move. However, the term ‘nude’ was not used for all non-pornographic, artistic depictions of naked human bodies until the 20th century.