On Drawing Nudes

Raphael

I've been thinking I should address this topic in some way, because I've gotten so many questions about it (ever since I took my first figure drawing class at age 16)--from family, friends, neighbors, etc. Disclaimer--these are my personal opinions, and you are more than welcome to disagree :)

I am a member of the LDS church. I have been all my life, and when people find out I am an aspiring artist, I am sometimes asked (in hushed tones) if I (gasp!) draw nudes.

Answer: Yes, I draw nudes. And I have absolutely no problem with it at all.

Now, I do not think we should all go walking around nude at all times (or even a majority of the time ;)

However, there is a time and a place for these things. I don't hear much condemnation from my fellow Mormons for those who have found themselves changing in a locker room. Or taking a human anatomy class in college. Or becoming doctors or other medical professionals. Or even skinny dipping at scout camp, for that matter... all of which would expose a person to the nude human form.

But for some reason, the artistic study of the nude is commonly considered pornographic in the LDS culture. I think there are a few reasons for this. One is that we equate all nudity with pornography (personally, I find tasteful nude artwork to be very, very different from pornographic images--keyword "tasteful"). Another is that artwork creates a visual memory--something that we can see and experience over and over.

Then there's the modesty aspect--are we robbing someone of their virtue by asking them to pose nude (when on a normal day we would ask them to cover their shoulders and wear shorts to their knees)? You can probably guess my answer to this question since I'm okay with drawing nudes. I've never seen a nude model treated with anything but the utmost respect (which is a lot more than I can say for an attractive woman walking down a city street, even modestly clothed).

And then there's the fact that in our current American culture, art is something that, in general, we consider non-essential. Of course doctors are essential, so the ends justifies the means... but are artists essential? (if you could live inside my head for a while you'd probably come to realize that art is an integral part of physical, mental and emotional health... at least for some of us. And I would argue plays an important role in the collective conscious as well).

Which leads me to another question I often hear regarding this subject:

"Is it really necessary to draw people nude? Why can't you just draw people with their clothes (or bathing suits) on?"

You can draw people clothed. I really like drawing people clothed (in fact, I probably prefer it, and would much rather hang a painting of a clothed human on my wall)! But clothing (even a skimpy bikini) abstracts the human form. It makes it easier for the artist to break the form into clearly defined shapes (think triangle, triangle, triangle ;). It's also much easier to fudge the proportions of a clothed figure (because there is such variety in which the way a piece of clothing may hang on a body).

So, you may ask, wouldn't you want to draw people with clothes on? Wouldn't you rather have an easier task?

Well if your purpose is to learn to draw, then (at least for me, anyway) the answer is no. The great thing about the human eye is that we are able to detect distortions in the human form immediately. That's why the human form is the ultimate subject matter for learning to draw--anyone (artist or not) can look at a drawing of a nude and immediately know whether it looks basically correct. Now actually drawing an accurate figure? Not such an immediately easy task. There's a reason why drawing the nude has been an integral part of art education for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Now if a person has a hard time looking at nudes without thinking and/or controlling unwarranted thoughts, I wouldn't recommend it. Thankfully, that just hasn't been a problem for me... but everyone has to determine for themselves what they are comfortable with, works for them, and what they feel right about ;)

Also, an interesting fact about Mormon history. In the 1890s the church paid for a few artists to go on "Art Missions" in France. The artists studied at the Julian Academy in Paris (see this article). These artists studied art the traditional way--a large part of that education was drawing and painting from nudes. They came back and painted murals for temples and taught in the universities here in Utah :)