After my post on Nick Cave’s sexist CD cover and the ubiquity of images pairing covered men and uncovered women, my sister reminded me of Annie Leibovitz’s famous photograph:
This photo of a naked John Lennon with his wife, Yoko Ono, was taken on Dec. 8, 1980, the last day of Lennon’s life.
Ono was, of course, demonized for putting some kind of spell on Lennon and then breaking up the Beatles.
John Lennon is a true artist and absolute original. This image is just one of the many ways Lennon’s talent and vision made the world a better place.
Just to remind everyone, it was actually Leibovitz who asked Ono to keep her clothes on and Lennon to take them off. So, in reality, this picture is also one of the many ways that this great photographer went against many stupid relationship stereotypes and stereotypical gender roles. 🙂 But anyways, I so love John Lennon and the fact that he totally got into the feeling of the picture and took it so naturally also proves how awesoe he was!
Love the blog, I have five younger sisters and one younger brother and it really helps me pick toys, movies and books! 🙂
http://www.lomography.com/magazine/lifestyle/2011/03/16/influential-photographs-john-lennon-and-yoko-ono-1980-by-annie-leibovitz
” For the lovers’ portrait, she imagined that the two would pose together nude.
Yoko was reluctant to take her clothes off. She claimed that she could take her top off but not her pants. Disappointed, Annie asked her to just leave everything on. John, disrobed, curled up beside and wrapped himself around a fully clothed Yoko. Annie used an instant camera to capture the moment. Instantly, the three knew right away that it was a profound image. John and Yoko exclaimed to Annie, “You’ve captured our relationship exactly.” For the lovers’ portrait, she imagined that the two would pose together nude.
Yoko was reluctant to take her clothes off. She claimed that she could take her top off but not her pants. Disappointed, Annie asked her to just leave everything on. John, disrobed, curled up beside and wrapped himself around a fully clothed Yoko. Annie used an instant camera to capture the moment. Instantly, the three knew right away that it was a profound image. John and Yoko exclaimed to Annie, “You’ve captured our relationship exactly.””
sorry for the double copy up there … I was trying to add my emphasize that John said that photo captured their relationship exactly … I find that incredibly beautiful.
This is a very rare type of photo indeed! I think there is a reason behind this large number of nude women in photographs in art. Many centuries ago men would commission artistic nudes from male painters. These paintings were looked at by men and bought by men to be put on bedroom walls. Some would even be built into cabinets so that they could be hidden away. Artistic nudes were literally ancient pornography! Looks like we haven’t changed much. We just don’t seem to be putting them on our bedroom walls or hiding them in cabinets anymore.