Amélie Lavin “At Mucem, we wanted a “Naturists” exhibition that was not prohibited for those under 18”

What does this exhibition reveal?

A rich, complex and plural history of more than a century. There have been, and there are, different ways of being a naturist. Naturism carries many preconceived ideas, the first associating naturist and nudist while nudity is only one element of naturism. Naturism is a philosophy, a way of life where it is about finding a more direct, more nourishing link with nature. The first naturists were not all naked since nudity at the beginning of the 20th century, or between the two wars, was prohibited by law. It took time for bodies to gradually become naked, then completely.

What are the first experiences?

They are German and are carried out at the very end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th century, in the form of communities or colonies. They are linked to the movement of the Life reform (“reform of life”), born in Germany at the end of the 19th century and nourished by a rather anarchist or social reform thought, and by the first vegetarian and hygienist currents. These isolated experiments were then in struggle against industrialization and the growth of cities. They joined a more global thought of returning to nature started at the end of the 18th century. Their propagation in Switzerland also covers different experiments like that of Monte Verità in Ticino. It must be remembered that until the First World War, tuberculosis killed many people. The only care offered was then the sun and the air of the sea, then of the mountains. The sporting dimension, dance or gymnastics for example, is also very important for these protonaturisms. It is about strengthening the body, especially that of the youngest, through sport, especially outdoors.

How are these movements developing in France?

Jacques-Joseph Muller, known as Jacomo, Leysin, air and sunposter circa 1930, Swiss National Library.

© Jacques-Joseph Muller Fund (Jacomo) / Swiss National Library.

The term naturism as a medical doctrine that consists of considering nature as the only one capable of healing the body appears for the first time in the writings of two doctors: Théophile de Bordeu in 1768, then in 1778 in those of Jean Baptiste Luc Planchon. The first to revive these ideas at the beginning of the 20th century were also doctors, such as the brothers Gaston and André Durville. They practiced in their Parisian office, established a comprehensive health program and created naturist places. Between 1926 and 1928, the Sparta Club, the first community to open in Eure, was an offshoot of a gym – also called Sparta Club – founded in Paris by a naturist doctor (Marcel Viard) and a physical education teacher (Marcel Kienné de Mongeot), where sports were practiced in the hygienic spirit of the first naturists.

What was the golden age of naturism?

There were several. The first, between 1920 and 1939, was a period when the theoretical apparatus was built with the publication of books and the first journals. The first communities developed and put into practice the theories developed by doctors, such as the Physiopolis community on the island of Platais, in Villennes-sur-Seine, founded by the Durville brothers. The first debates then appeared on nudity and its benefits on the body, in particular on the recommendation, or not, of complete nudity. The post-war period marked another golden age. Founded in 1930 by the same Durville brothers, the community of Héliopolis on the island of Levant grew from the 1950s. Levant became the place where the entire Riviera came to discover the beauty of the island, enjoy the freedom offered by nudity and the festive atmosphere. These were also the years of the creation in 1950, by Albert and Christiane Lecocq of the Centre héliomarin de Montalivet, on the Aquitaine coast, a pioneer in family and popular naturism. A year later, the couple founded the Fédération française de naturisme, an organ for the dissemination of a mainstream naturism which triggered an opening of the movement to other social classes. Naturism had in fact remained until then a rather bourgeois phenomenon although a history of working-class naturism had unfolded in France in the 1930s. The architectural constructions which transformed, in the 1960s-1970s, the naturist campsite of Cap d’Agde, on the Languedoc coast, into a vast complex, marked another period of expansion and change of scale for this type of infrastructure without equivalent in Europe. People came from the northern countries to enjoy the Mediterranean or Aquitaine climate. France became the leading tourist destination in Europe for naturists. And it remains so with 40% of practitioners, German and Dutch.

However, has the ultrasexual dimension of naturism which developed in Cap d’Agde not undermined the identity of the movement?

It was in Cap d’Agde that naturism began to be associated with libertinism and that positions within naturists themselves became divided. Which undoubtedly added a lot of confusion and made us forget that naturism is first and foremost a way of life, and the infrastructures, places of life that have always mixed families and singles of all ages. The first naturists who settled with the Durville brothers wanted to live year-round in Le Levant. It is also a story of family transmission. We go there as children, then we bring our spouses there. We come to spend our holidays there.

Amélie Lavin, Chief Curator at Mucem. © Corsin Vogel.

Amélie Lavin, Chief Curator at Mucem.

© Corsin Vogel

Can we say that being a naturist is a militant act?

Yes, because many naturists are campaigning to decriminalize nudity and for the right to be naked more easily wherever they want. The opening of a naturist area in the Bois de Vincennes in 2019 was obtained through activism, as was the Calanque des Pierres Tombées in Marseille in 2022. Federations, notably the French Naturist Federation, are campaigning for inclusive, respectful naturism. These communities bring together people who are rather comfortable with their bodies. Getting naked allows them to free themselves from a social and aesthetic judgment that is very present the rest of the time in society.

How has the iconography of body representation evolved?

Naturist Paradises, Bernard Andrieu and Amélie Lavin, La Martinière Edition, 240 p.

Naturist paradisesBernard Andrieu and Amélie Lavin, La Martinière Edition, 240 p.

© La Martinière Edition

At the beginning, in the 1920s and 1930s, the idea was to build a healthy and fit body. Following the model of ancient Greek statuary, the body must be slim and toned. The injunction of sport meets this ideal for both men and women. From the 1950s, the pin-up model predominates. For forty years, the promotion for naturist places is done through a form of commercialization of the very present and eroticized female body, posing in languid attitudes, in swimsuits or topless, then completely naked. The iconography that develops during these years is that known in cinema and which is deployed on postcards, in magazines, in particular erotic ones such as Playboy. This has reinforced preconceived ideas about naturism, even though this practice allows us to escape the very strong bodily injunctions of our society. We have testimonies from women who tell how naturism has helped them to accept their bodies and to free themselves from a form of influence of the male gaze on their bodies.

What were the constraints of this exhibition in terms of iconography?

We wanted an exhibition that was not prohibited to those under 18 and that was open to everyone. This meant avoiding overly sexualized images without losing what we wanted to show. That is to say, the family dimension of naturism and bodies of all ages, while taking special precautions for children, on the advice of a lawyer, so as not to be suspected of child pornography. Our main problem was above all the right to image and finding the people in the photos to get their authorization.

How is naturism doing today?

A little before Covid and shortly after, the figures showed a resurgence in naturism. This is quite logical. This interest makes sense when you have ecological concerns and the desire to have more direct contact with nature. However, some naturist communities are threatened, such as in Montalivet and Levant. These are real corners of paradise that real estate speculators have recently been coveting. This first exhibition in France on naturism can also be the beginning of a reflection on the heritage and protection of these natural coastal areas.

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