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In 1928, a pair of French doctors, André and Gaston Durville, established the first naturist club in Paris on an island in the Seine. Nudity seemed a logical step in their medical practice, which pioneered therapies based on massage and vegetarianism, physical exercise and hypnosis. Their methods were in part a reaction to the bodily traumas of the first world war and subsequent Spanish flu epidemic. In 1930, with a growing interest in the psychological and health benefits of naturism across Europe, the brothers created a resort they called Héliopolis, on the Île du Levant, off the coast of Hyères on the French riviera. A photographer, Pierre Audebert was commissioned to produce a series of photo stories for the brothers’ magazine, Naturisme.

The Durville brothers promoted Héliopolis as a kind of paradise, and attempted to placate scandalised churchy opinion by separating nudity from sex, emphasising instead a sort of confident athleticism. Héliopolis would, they declared, be “a simple rustic city where air- and sunlight-lovers return to the quiet of a beautiful nature, and rest from the artificial civilisation of modern cities”. Audebert was required to idealise those ambitions. His images therefore dwelt on the relaxed liberation of visitors to the island, depicting sun worshippers alone on beaches or often, as here, in the wholesome pursuit of climbing trees. Audebert made many series of pictures on the island over 20 years. An exhibition exploring naturism, including Audebert’s work, features in this year’s Arles festival.

Héliopolis, and the Île du Levant more widely, is still a thriving naturist resort, though the numbers of visitors have declined since the 1960s, when 60,000 would come each summer; nudity remains obligatory on its beaches, and there are a number of restaurants and bars that expect customers to be au naturel, though a thong – what the French call “le minimum” – is now required in the streets around the island’s harbour.

  • Naturist Paradises is at Mucem, Marseille, 3 July–9 December. The Arles photography festival runs 1 July–29 September