Vintage View: Female nudes

What is it about a naked girl?

A few months ago, I bought a small 1980s pastel of a semi-clothed female figure sitting up on a couch, looking out a window. Delighted with it, I posted an image with my aged, trusted Facebook community. Immediately, the discomfort of outward sophisticates was laid bare. ‘Hang it in the bedroom’ they pertly advised, ‘where your daughter won’t see it.’

If someone gave one of these art appraisers a small Picasso with a triangulated breast, (deemed savage and immoral in its day), would it make the cut to sit over the cistern in the downstairs cloakroom? Frightened, primary school titters continued for days on my news feed. Finally I cloaked her sadly with a firm ‘delete’.