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鈥淣ude: From Modigliani to Currin鈥� presents depictions of the human body from the eve of modernism to the present day. From Paul C茅zanne鈥檚 Baigneurs (c. 1890鈥�95) and Baigneurs Debout (1876), and Edvard Munch鈥檚 harrowing Madonna (1895鈥�97) to Charles Ray鈥檚 Young Man (2012), this exhibition considers the nude as an infinitely suggestive material and form.

With the rise of modernism鈥攅xemplified here by works including Pablo Picasso鈥檚 Nue endormie (1932) and Amedeo Modigliani鈥檚 Nue couch茅 aux bras lev茅s (1916)鈥攔epresentations of the human body moved away from the idealized and romantic towards fragmented, erotic distortions that reflected shifting ideas about human psychology and perception. Marcel Duchamp鈥檚 iconoclastic Nude Descending a Staircase (1912), represented here by a color pochoir from 1937, offers a refracted view of a body in dynamic motion, relating to the Cubist isolation of body parts into signs and symbols to be assembled and disassembled at will. In Alberto Giacometti鈥檚 Figure moyenne II (1947), the existential anxiety of the postwar era coalesces in an emaciated figure in cast bronze, the very embodiment of human fragility.

In Ren茅 Magritte鈥檚 Surrealist tableaux such as L鈥檈mbellie (The Break in the Clouds) (1942) and Clairvoyance (1965), the body is a motif like any other, detached from its traditional associations and transposed into a world of cryptic subconscious; while in Yves Klein鈥檚 performative Anthropometries, such as Monique (ANT 59) (1960), the naked female body is covered in paint and pressed directly against canvas to produce a direct impression, rather than being a mediated, scopic view. The dynamism of Francis Bacon's Two Figures on a Couch (1967) lies in its abandonment of the classical human form, as well as its sustained investigation of movement captured, with limbs blending into torqued masses of flesh.

In the second half of the twentieth century, Pop art dramatically reconfigured aesthetic approaches to the nude. As exemplified in the work of Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, and Roy Lichtenstein, artists began to glean imagery from glossy magazines and the graphic arts. Warhol鈥檚 Walking Torso (1977) forgoes centuries of traditional practice for commercial silkscreen processes in order to repeat images mechanically, introducing incremental shifts that evoke cinematic sequencing. In David Hockney鈥檚 The Room Tarzana (1967), dramatic tension is built where graphic blues and greens make up a flat, static image of a bare-bottomed boy lying face-down on a bed in a brightly lit room.

With Lucian Freud鈥檚 Night Portrait (1977鈥�78) and Jenny Saville鈥檚 Trace (1993鈥�94), the dense tactility of oil paint effects the sensation of flesh, together with its enigmas, troubles, and desires. Willem de Kooning鈥檚 Untitled (c. 1966) is a typically expressionist homage to the abundance and sensuality of the female body. These corporeal qualities link contemporary painters to the innovations of their Renaissance forebears. While Jeff Koons鈥檚 porcelain sculpture Naked (1988) depicts a cloyingly precious moment between a young boy and girl鈥攁 gift-shop Adam and Eve鈥擩ohn Currin鈥檚 Nude with Raised Arms (1998) contains echoes of contorted Mannerist bodies, inflected with a newly sardonic eroticism.

The persistent impulse to depict the human body is present at every juncture in art history. In Gagosian鈥檚 ongoing series of diverse and engaging group shows, such as 鈥淕o Figure鈥� (2009), 鈥淐rash鈥� (2010), 鈥淭he Show is Over鈥� (2013), and 鈥淚n the Studio鈥� (2015), 鈥淣ude: From Modigliani to Currin鈥� is a lively and varied exploration, from the late nineteenth century into the present, of the limitless ways in which the human body is both the subject and means of artistic endeavor.