Jack of Diamonds

RUSSIAN ART HAS OFTEN BEEN CONTRADICTORY IN ITS DEPICTION OF NUDES - AND CHANGING TIMES HAVE THEMSELVES CHANGED ETHICAL AND AESTHETIC VALUE SYSTEMS, AND OFFERED (AND/OR ORDERED) NEW PRIORITIES. THE 20TH-CENTURY INDUSTRIAL ERA WITH ITS REVOLUTIONARY TURMOIL TRIGGERED AN OVERTURNING OF TRADITIONAL MORAL STANDARDS IN SOCIETY, ESTABLISHING NEW AESTHETIC NOTIONS AND ALTERING ARTISTIC LANGUAGE ACCORDINGLY. THEMES OF NUDITY WERE NO LONGER CONFINED TO ART CLASSES. NUDE BODIES THAT HAD ONCE MADE THE RUSSIAN AUDIENCE NERVOUSLY BLUSH WITH EMBARRASSMENT APPEARED AS SUBJECTS OF PROPAGANDA IN A SOCIETY WHICH WAS AIMING AT DRASTIC CHANGE. THE YOUNG GENERATION OF BIG-CITY DWELLERS, RADICAL NUDISTS, CONSIDERED STROLLING THE STREETS WITHOUT CLOTHES TO BE A REVOLUTIONARY ACT. AS VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY STROVE TO CONVINCE HIS READERS: "THERE'S NO BETTER ATTIRE IN THE WORLD / THAN THE BRONZE OF MUSCLES AND FRESHNESS OF SKIN".