This edited scholarly volume offers a perspective on the history of the genre of the nude in the Middle East and includes contributions written by scholars from several disciplines (art history, history, anthropology). Each chapter provides a distinct perspective on the early days of the fine arts genre of the nude, as its author studies a particular aspect through analysis of artworks and historical documents from the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries. The volume examines a rich body of reproductions of both primary documents and of works of art made by Lebanese, Egyptian, Syrian artists or of anonymous book illustrations from the nineteenth century Ottoman erotic literature.

"Art, Awakening, and Modernity in the Middle East: The Arab Nude is an important cross-disciplinary contribution to studies of art and intellectual history during the nahda, especially given the continued presumption of the scandalousness of these artworks."

--CAA Reviews

Octavian Esanu is Assistant Professor of Art History at the American University of Beirut.