Unashamed Natural Freedom of Male Nudity

Henry Scott Tuke – Midsummer Morning (1908)

The English artist, Henry Scott Tuke beautifully depicts the atmospheric light of a high summer morning, evoking the pleasurable feeling of the hot sun, the refreshing cooler water, the light of the sea, and the unashamed natural freedom of male nudity. The skin tones and the cragginess of the rocks are deftly depicted by a skilled hand. We witness the delightfully innocent pre-war nude youths enjoying the simplicity of line fishing, the action of disgorging the fish and the idea of their possible later culinary delights, a reward from the sea.

After a successful and admired career, his popularity waned after his death until revived again through a growing acceptance of openly gay artists and he became a cult figure, a gay icon in the 1970s.

Tuke’s paintings of delightfully innocent pre-war nude youths are never explicitly or overtly sexual. Explicit genitalia is rarely depicted and the figures, mostly friends, are rarely in physical contact with each other. His compositions are carefully composed to show a variety of actions and positions giving his paintings a dynamic of activity and skill.