As a believer I would let someone else do it i would not want a student to stumble because of me and be answerable to God for that and for exposing myself when i did not need to. Theres plenty of other ways to support the arts. When i was in an art class we also had painted a clothed model. The model who usually posed nude couldnt make it that day and the tutor stood in but didnt take her clothes off, don't blame her and it was fine. It was much easier personally because I didn't have to look at a naked body
I like this statement regarding the use of nude models in the art department at Augustana College, a Lutheran institution of higher learning:
"To study art is to discern what makes us uniquely human. Genesis begins this way, with man and woman created in God’s own image. We acknowledge the inherent beauty of the human form and that it is indeed a worthy subject of study. The lessons learned in drawing the human form teach us to recognize each individual’s uniqueness and worth and for the need to treat the human form with dignity and respect. Great drawing refuses stereotypes and pre-judgment. To look at the model means to see another person in the flesh for who they really are: a sovereign, living individual. Errant conceptions become painfully obvious. Nothing is comparably as difficult, or as expressive, or as finely tuned as our experience of seeing and drawing the human form. The trillion gestural possibilities and seemingly infinite subtle structures of the human body suggest that new discoveries are still possible and that drawing as a discipline is as much a visual process as it is a practice. Balance, proportion, movement, gesture, economy, harmony and vitality of form all extend from the study of drawing the model. You must constantly question what you see, leaving behind what you think you know, take risks, and try to see things fresh again like a child filled with wonder each time you draw."
The complete policy can be found at
http://www.augie.edu/sites/default/files/Art-Policy-on-Nude-Models.pdf.
And out of respect to my spouse I would not do it either - even if they were ok with it my body naked is for my spouse only.
And, again, we have to agree to disagree.
Plenty of art doesn't have nudes in it.
That doesn't mean that art students should have the opportunity to learn to paint the nude human body.
Personally i think some artists who only paint nudes are weird.
And you are entitled to your opinion.
I really don't like nude paintings many decent people believers and non believers dont because theyre simply not decent.
OK. I have approximately 60 prints or paintings hanging in my house. As I recall, five of them are nudes. I don't find them any more offensive than the paintings of buildings, ships, nature, or fully clothed human beings.
Same for the Cistine chapel. Amazing achievement but could have been painted clothed quite easily and still been incredible.
But it would not have been the same.
I think nude models either have incredibly low self esteem and are desperate for money, (like the one we painted in my art class who i drove home and so we talked) or love themselves a bit too much and being painted naked appeals to their ego.
Again, you are entitled to your opinion.
