Nature, Force and Variation

Abstract

During the first quarter of the twentieth century there was a return, in the West, to notions of the ‘natural’ in diverse fields of cultural activity. For many, outdoor pursuits; freer ways of learning; liberating costume; the authenticity of emotion and sexual desire; and the natural world itself were all privileged in action and belief. For others, the Hellenic Greek period (5 BCE) was viewed as the epitome of a natural harmony and balance between the State, the people and their gods. One of the central tenets of the beliefs, inspired by this Greek world, was a return to the representation of the ‘natural’ body in many forms of artistic expression, with aspirations to a liberation through ..