
Thomas Ruff, Red Panties, from the "Nudes" series, 2001
Vajayjay, vaj, meat wallet, muff monster, bearded clam, furback turtle—whatever you call it, the vagina has been the most obsessed-over body part since apes began to walk upright. It’s certainly been the most culturally and politically contested. It’s no surprise, then, that for centuries (millennia, even) the subject has attracted all kinds of artists, and caused some of art history’s biggest flaps. With that in mind, we offer this brief history of the vagina in art, and all the hoo-ha surrounding it.
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