Why Fine Artists Create Nude Paintings

The nude as a staple of the art world dates back to the time of the ancient Greeks. In ancient Greek society, public nudity was an everyday occurrence. In fact, it has been said that the first Olympic athletes competed in the nude. The root of the word "gymnasium" actually comes from the Greek word "gymnos", meaning "naked". With public nudity so prevalent, it is not surprising that Greek art shows such a mastery of the treatment of the human form.

Throughout history, two of the most accepted ways to become skilled at creating art were by looking to nature or by looking to artistic Masters of the past. Thus, whether they were looking to nature or looking at works of the ancient Greeks, the nude human form was a natural subject choice for many artists.

That being said, artists did not always have a choice when it came to the subject of their work. Art academies, first established in Renaissance Italy, prescribed strict guidelines for the production of works of art. If an artist wanted their work to be well-accepted and sold, it was in their best interest to follow these guidelines.

Out of all the European academies, the French Academy (Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture) was considered the most influential. Founded in 1648, the goal of the academy was to distinguish artists from craftsmen, thus emphasizing the more intellectual aspect of creating art.

The Academy established a hierarchy which applied to paintings: classical, mythological, religious or allegorical subject matter were above all others (landscapes, still lifes, portraits, etc.). These subjects, sometimes referred to collectively as "history paintings" were also the preference of some of the most important royal, aristocratic and clerical art collectors and commissioners.

Because the nude form is a essential aspect of many history paintings, this meant that the nude human form was at the top of the hierarchy as well. Learning to draw the nude human form came to be considered the most useful tool in developing as an artist.

The academies' rules did not govern subject matter alone, but for several centuries, they also prescribed rules and conventions for acceptable poses and other treatments of the nude body. Artists who attempted to break away from those constraints were usually met with hostility and considered scandalous. Of course, now we can appreciate what such artists were attempting to create.

The nude form continues to be a popular subject of many works of art. However, while there will always be attempts at censorship, most of the rules that constrained artists in the past have been erased. Albeit, some new rules have taken their place.

Figure drawing continues to be taught at universities, as it is still tradition for artists to look to nature or art Masters of the past for inspiration. In the art world, the human body is often considered to be one of the most perfect and complex forms ever created. The expressive nature of the body is what draws many artists to attempt to re-create it.

The goal of contemporary figure drawings classes, which employ nude models, is to structurally dissect and analyze each part of the human body. Students are focused on the structural components of the body - how the skeletal structure and musculature work together to make the body move. If an artist can truly understand what is going on underneath the skin, instead of just drawing what they see on the surface, then they can draw any figure, clothed or unclothed, accurately and expressively. This is learned through intensive study and repetition, so that in time it becomes instinctual.

Some people outside of the art world cannot understand this and see it as crude or pornographic. They especially have a hard time understanding how it can be taught in a university setting. This is simply ignorance. It is sad that lines have been crossed that make a simple drawing of a beautiful nude body cause for concern. However, I won't get into the pornography debate here - that's a whole other article.

What I will say is this: The mark of the educated artist or art lover is the ability to assess the nude human form in artistic terms alone. There is an unspoken expectation that art students observe the model in an entirely scientific and objective way. Can I argue that a work of art depicting a nude is never erotic? No. Can I argue that the human body is not at times extremely sensual? No. The human body should be valued for both its awe-inspiring complexity as a structural form and also for its inherent sensuality. One does not come without the other.