From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 09/14/00-12:23:16 PM Z
On Thu, 14 Sep 2000, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
> .. Now, in Montana, mind you, of the myriad times we painted from the
> nude there were only 2 times that I remember painting from the male
> form (and let me tell you, one of them.....oh, no I should keep it
> clean...). Why is this? Is there truly a proliferation of females
> comfortable with posing nude and not males; is the female body the
> preferred form to draw from? I personally think female is norm and
> there is a stigma attached to males modeling nude MUCH moreso than
> women. .... [T]he one time I got really annoyed is that we usually had
> these two women who modelled frequently for us who both are probably
> in their mid 40's, and one time a student (friend) of mine left the
> class because these women were not "inspiring" to him. Oh, you could
> say this man was an exception to the rule, but the bottom line is, how
> do we as people feel when we no longer are "inspiring" to the opposite
> sex? As Susan Sontag says, old age is "ob-scene" or off-scene, a
> still great tabu in the art world.
Chris, what you describe is the impression I've gotten from what I've seen
in presentday art schools. When I took life drawing in my youth, which
was, if you could believe, '30s & 40s at the Art Students League, the
models were all ages and shapes and probably as many male as female. In
fact, I seem to recall an alternation -- one week male, next female. The
fat ladies were everybody's favorites, so wonderful to draw, so much, as
it were, to get ahold of. It was much harder to "do" anything with the
shapely young woman except a standard girlie pic.
But if you're wondering why the models now seem all young "shapely" women,
it may be simply the current mindset of what "naked model" is... I
doubt it's simply who "offers" themselves. There's probably someone in
charge of the hiring. And if the boys grumble about not being
"inspired," well they have a clientele to satisfy, and are not getting
paid to make waves, or reform the world. (I on the contrary have a
retainer, the "Reform-the-World Annual Stipend.")
But while I'm reminiscing, I point out that in those days the male models
ALWAYS wore jock straps, and I gather this is no longer the case. Could
that be a factor in willingness of either models OR students? I dunno,
but it comes to mind...
> ... Is all this
age/beauty
> stuff cultural or biological? Is it changing? I find in the artworld there
> has been change and acceptance of less stereotypical modes of beauty, but
> certainly in mass culture this is not the case. Can I be accused of
> "whining" because I am in my mid 40's? Or is it justifiable to look at this
> issues?
In a sense all "older" women are silenced, because of the cultural
attitude toward them... but the dirty little not-so secret is that our
cultural attitudes are formed by mass media and advertising, where the
suave older man and younger "trophy" beauty are the norm. (Where is Aunt
Jemima when we need her? Banished as "racist"? That's baloney. I think
she's banished for being over 30.)
Artists pride themselves on their nonconformity -- at the *conscious*
level, MAYBE. (But the most conformist photographs I've ever seen are
standard artsy fartsy T & A. The frank soft-porn -- and in this I'd
include Newton -- is MUCH more creative.)
Judy
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