Artists - Part 62

William Etty

British painter William Etty (1787-1849) has been called the most controversial artist you never heard of.  Almost all of his paintings included a nude figure, male or female, and he gained a reputation for artistic indecency.  Above, Academic Male Nude, a typical painting.

Almost all of Etty's paintings were rear views.  Only a few of them showed frontal nudity, such as David, above ...

and Reclining Male Nude, Raised Right Knee (above), but note that the genitals are darkened and obscured. 

The untitled drawing of a male nude above is probably Etty's clearest depiction of frontal nudity (perhaps drawing with pencil allowed more detail than painting).

But the vast majority of Etty's works show rear views, often very alluring, like The Archer, above ...

and An Athlete Striving Upwards, above.

Most of Etty's male models were lifeguards or men he met at the public bathhouses.  He thought they had the best muscular physiques.  Above, Standing Male Nude.

Despite his reputation for artistic indecency, his private life has defied all attempts to unearth smut.  He was a lifelong bachelor.  That suggests that he may have been gay, but it's not possible to confirm it.  However, his habit of picking up muscular models at the public bathhouses might be telling us something ...

(Above: Male Nude with Staff)

in addition to his seeming obsession with male butts.

(Above: Standing Male Nude)

To me, his erotic preferences are clear in The Wrestlers, above, where the penis of one wrestler is darkened and obscured, but the other wrestler's butt shines brightly.  In other words, Etty was a butt man.

We end with Male Nude with Arms Up-Stretched, 1828.  The way the model's arms are tied up looks pretty kinky.  Perhaps Etty's reputation for indecency was actually deserved more than his critics suspected.