View a Preview ClipWomen Bathing Video. Beginning with the classical and biblical subjects of Diana, Susannah, and Bathsheba, this program discusses female nudity as it relates to the act of bathing. Depicted as a chaste ritual, a sensual invitation, and a terrifying opportunity for violence, the act of bathing is deconstructed and scrutinized from an artistic point of view. Topics include the inherent dramatic tension of nudity; the thematic provocation of the gaze, as when a character in a painting looks at a bather or when a bather looks out at a viewer; the concealing and revealing of the body with wraps and towels; and the power of actions both mundane and symbolic, such as the combing of hair. Contains nudity. (27 minutes.) Art History, Art and Photography. 2001.
