Is there a relatively easy way to find nude art in the Met’s collection?

November 1, 2017 3:50 PM

For a feminist art project, I’m hoping to find all (or at least a lot) the depictions of nude female bodies in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Since gender isn’t that simple: I’m looking for depictions of nude bodies of people who likely menstruated.) Is there an easy way to search their collection by content that might reveal these images?
posted by ocherdraco to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Best answer: I'm guessing you've already looked at their online collection? Searching for "nude" there yields nearly 3,000 results.
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 3:56 PM on November 1, 2017

Response by poster: I guess I’m wondering if anyone knows if a search like that captures all depictions of nudity.
posted by ocherdraco at 4:01 PM on November 1, 2017

Best answer: I would assume it is comprehensive, in that the online collection reflects the museum's cataloguing over its existence. It may not be, in the sense that it only includes material they could release under a CC0 license and which they have digitized thus far. That's 450,000 out of over 1.5 million objects in their collection.

There's more information about it here: https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/digital-underground/2017/open-access-at-the-met
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 4:22 PM on November 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also I'm sure you're aware but an important distinction is what's in the collection vs. what's on view.

I would assume it is comprehensive, in that the online collection reflects the museum's cataloguing over its existence.

I think it will also depend on the tagging protocols.
posted by Miko at 5:31 PM on November 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

have you gotten in touch with the guerilla girls?
posted by brujita at 6:00 PM on November 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

Nipples at the Met. Unfortunately they're not labeled but maybe the artist who put that together can offer some advice.
posted by yeahlikethat at 6:04 PM on November 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

On the left side, select Artworks on Display if you want to see only what is viewable when you visit. And then the bottom of each entry will tell you where to find it. This figurine, for example, is at the Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 406.

Also, just searching nude is capturing both male and female, although it looks like female is outweighing male. Here's an example of one of the male figures.
posted by Mouse Army at 6:05 PM on November 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Not the most helpful, but I'm fond of the Metropolitan Museum of Butts
posted by Mchelly at 10:26 PM on November 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Glad that you have an answer, and wanted to make sure you've seen the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health, which also includes works of art/comics/ads/visual culture.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:45 AM on November 2, 2017

And this, from The Guardian: 'Enjoy menstruation, even on the subway': Stockholm art sparks row
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:03 PM on November 2, 2017