Bathers

People taking baths or showers—either to clean themselves or for comfort—as well as people swimming. Images of bathers, usually women, have a long tradition in Western art history. Artists such as Titian, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse created iconic works employing this subject. Feminist art historians in the 20th century attacked this tradition for its consistent presentation of, in the words of Linda Nochlin, “masculine mastery and feminine display.”