nudity in art?

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can nudity just be art? please don't vote in this if you already voted in the other

  • yes

    Votes: 27 50.0%

  • no

    Votes: 12 22.2%

  • if it's only a silhouette, yes

    Votes: 1 1.9%

  • sometimes

    Votes: 14 25.9%
  • Total voters
    54
ijustwanttheTruth

ijustwanttheTruth

Senior Member
#1
Sep 28, 2011
823
8
18
#1
is a naked silhouette of a woman automatically sexual, or can it just be art?
i personally wish that it could just be taken for it's artistic form, in purity. but i thought i would ask you guys....is it possible to look at the outline of a nude woman and not lust after it?

ya know what? this needs a poll. how do i add one here
 
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teuful_hunden

teuful_hunden

Banned
#2
Apr 21, 2012
269
1
0
#2
a silhouette isn't really a problem. Full on nudity in art can be a problem if the viewer cannot suppress his/her instinct
 
error

error

Senior Member
#3
Oct 23, 2009
1,244
10
38
#3
Depends on how you look at her. I think it is possible.
 
TheAristocat

TheAristocat

Senior Member
#4
Oct 4, 2011
2,150
26
0
#4
teuful_hunden said:
a silhouette isn't really a problem. Full on nudity in art can be a problem if the viewer cannot suppress his/her instinct
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That post makes a good point. It's *instinct* for us men. Our bodies naturally react a certain way when we see something like this. We don't have to make a conscious decision to say, "I think I'm going to be turned on by this." So is it art? I'm sure the female body is beautiful. But I'm equally as sure we have to suppress an instinct imbedded within our very beings.
 
D

dashadow

Guest
#5
#5
I do custom picture framing and I also collect a good bit of art. Years ago, I collected two women's busts carved from stone. Both display nude breasts. Though I don't look upon them lustfully, I do wonder what others may think about them.

I keep them in my "man cave" along with another half dozen sculptures. My daughter and wife are the only ones besides me who go to the room regularly. They use the treadmill from time to time. When my son was younger, about 5 or 6, he use to go down there to sing karaoke. But he has only been down a couple of times since then.

There have been times I thought about covering them up, but I decided not to. If I have visitors, I'll just give them a heads up before showing them my "man cave". But at least for the time being, I'm not concerned about the nudity of my art. If I catch my son trying to go down more often, I may have to make some changes. :)
 
TheAristocat

TheAristocat

Senior Member
#6
Oct 4, 2011
2,150
26
0
#6
dashadow said:
I do custom picture framing and I also collect a good bit of art. Years ago, I collected two women's busts carved from stone. Both display nude breasts. Though I don't look upon them lustfully, I do wonder what others may think about them.

I keep them in my "man cave" along with another half dozen sculptures. My daughter and wife are the only ones besides me who go to the room regularly. They use the treadmill from time to time. When my son was younger, about 5 or 6, he use to go down there to sing karaoke. But he has only been down a couple of times since then.

There have been times I thought about covering them up, but I decided not to. If I have visitors, I'll just give them a heads up before showing them my "man cave". But at least for the time being, I'm not concerned about the nudity of my art. If I catch my son trying to go down more often, I may have to make some changes. :)
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If I were your son I totally would. lol Not to be a pain, but my late grandfather had a calendar up displaying the nude female figure. He was this old war veteran from WWII. But as a kid I'd go check it out. I think kids are generally more impressionable, because they're new to the experience. I can remember watching anime with partial cartoon nudity in it when I was 7 years old. I was infatuated by it immediately, but now I've gone back and watched the same animated movie, and it surprises me how much of an impression that little bit of nudity made on me at that age. I think as we get older we can get used to the female body and calloused toward it, because it's everywhere. But I don't know a man alive who would be unaffected by a fully nude woman and just deign it simple art.
 
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D

DannyC

Guest
#7
#7
I think this question is not as simple as it looks, really art is an expression and what constitutes art is very subjective and loose.

The body is a work of art in a way or we have natural attractions to the human body, instinct is another way to describe it but remember if art is an expression of the artist or is trying to convey a particular emotion then it becomes subjective to the viewer.

What I find erotic, someone else beautiful someone else obscene and another boring. It really depends on the person, so I'm not sure anyone can define what art is but instead look to the quality of it as an artistic piece.
 
ijustwanttheTruth

ijustwanttheTruth

Senior Member
#8
Sep 28, 2011
823
8
18
#8
now i see the poll option. i really didn't have to make an identical thread *facepalm*
 
D

dashadow

Guest
#9
#9
TheAristocat said:
If I were your son I totally would. lol Not to be a pain, but my late grandfather had a calendar up displaying the nude female figure. He was this old war veteran from WWII. But as a kid I'd go check it out. I think kids are generally more impressionable, because they're new to the experience. I can remember watching anime with partial cartoon nudity in it when I was 7 years old. I was infatuated by it immediately, but now I've gone back and watched the same animated movie, and it surprises me how much of an impression that little bit of nudity made on me at that age. I think as we get older we can get used to the female body and calloused toward it, because it's everywhere. But I don't know a man alive who would be unaffected by a fully nude woman and just deign it simple art.
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Very good point. I remember, even seeing women in bras in the old catalogs when I was a child would stir up emotions. The "man cave" is now off limits to the youngster.
 
D

dashadow

Guest
#10
#10
Still not covering the art though. :)
 
A

AgeofKnowledge

Guest
#12
#12
Kids today have an entire ocean of pornographic filth that includes the worst scenes imaginable flooding at them like enormous rivers through any device connected to the internet and it should give anyone that cares about children serious pause.

dashadow said:
Very good point. I remember, even seeing women in bras in the old catalogs when I was a child would stir up emotions. The "man cave" is now off limits to the youngster.
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H

Hungry

Banned
#13
Nov 26, 2012
3,095
1,050
113
#13
Just to throw a twist. If we are discussing nudity in art then what are your reactions to a silhouette of a nude male?
 
ijustwanttheTruth

ijustwanttheTruth

Senior Member
#14
Sep 28, 2011
823
8
18
#14
well women and men are not identical in that respect. a nude image of a male be it silhouette or not does absolutely nothing for me. i had to draw nude people in college for my art class and back then i thought 'this isn't art! how DARE they make us do this!' but now? i think i think differently. so i'm mostly asking for the male perspective bc i know they are visually oriented. i just don't know if that affects everything they look at.
 
TheAristocat

TheAristocat

Senior Member
#15
Oct 4, 2011
2,150
26
0
#15
Hungry said:
Just to throw a twist. If we are discussing nudity in art then what are your reactions to a silhouette of a nude male?
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I thought about this sort of thing, but not particularly with regard to men. More so dealing with obese women. But in such a case I wouldn't consider it art unless its impression was meant to be the grotesque. With regard to men... I'd say cover those loins for heck's sake. What man wants to see another man dangle. Again, a bit on the grotesque side. But other than that... partial nudity with a robe or something. Why not?
 
A

arwen83

Guest
#16
#16
I agree with the aristocat about men covering up. In general, I think nudity in art is okay, unless it was perverse or crude, but some people would argue that that is art as well...
 
TheAristocat

TheAristocat

Senior Member
#17
Oct 4, 2011
2,150
26
0
#17
But if you toned back the nudity I'm sure that it would just take less to get a man going. Different cultures have different ideas of what's acceptable. Some cultures want women to cover their hair. I don't know if this would be inappropriate, but I'll risk it to prove a point: [video=youtube;IkTZ8BVAlFE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkTZ8BVAlFE[/video]
 
S

SeatBelt

Guest
#18
#18
ijustwanttheTruth said:
well women and men are not identical in that respect. a nude image of a male be it silhouette or not does absolutely nothing for me. i had to draw nude people in college for my art class and back then i thought 'this isn't art! how DARE they make us do this!' but now? i think i think differently. so i'm mostly asking for the male perspective bc i know they are visually oriented. i just don't know if that affects everything they look at.
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I think you've hit on the marrow of the topic with the line in your sig file: "To love someone is to respect their boundaries"
The fact is that pornography is no longer a man problem. I could Easily introduce you to over a dozen women that attend the Celebrate Recovery program who struggle with pornography - except that would be breaking their anonymity & confidentiality so I can't do that. ;) If you care to find them, the stats are out there. With each generation it is more of a problem across the board, not just a gender based issue.
To quote myself from another thread:
SeatBelt said:
If you don't know it IS that big a problem, then God Bless You.
It is possibly the biggest threat to the church today, as it undercuts and erodes the very foundation of both men and women. It is as addictive as opiates, and as harmful as cyanide. And society calls it harmless and normal, a rite of passage, an entitlement, and an goal to aspire to.
Some say the devil created the internet for the wholesale disbursement of it. CC is proof that whoever created the internet (Al Gore anyone?) that both The God of Light and the prince of darkness can use the same thing for their own separate purposes....
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The fact is there will be someone who feels that Any amount of nudity is pornography.

My take is God is the artist; why plagiarize His work? Skinny or fat, tall or short, man or woman, are we not all fearfully and wonderfully made? Let us not lead one another into temptation, but rather lead one another home to Our Father.

To love someone is to respect their boundaries. Can you love your neighbor as Christ commands?
 
S

SeatBelt

Guest
#19
#19
...wow. I just posted that at work, using a work computer. ce la vie.
 
J

jimmydiggs

Guest
#20
#20
Nudity isn't art.
 
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