We're listening to From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler on audiobook right now. Of course, you have to visit the art museum as a field trip for this book! I love the art museum, so this was no hardship for me. Although I used to take my boys years ago, when they were smaller (for classes and tours), I haven't been for a while. Having teenage sons in the homeschool is not conducive to the art museum trips - at least it wasn't my family. But taking my Youngest, who didn't even remember ever having been to there, seemed like a great idea. The color, the history, the architecture, the nudes.....!
I guess I forgot how many nudes there are in art. Nude women in sculpture, probably the most startling for My Dear Boy, as they are full-sized and, ahem, so realistic. But naked ladies were on bowls, canvas, coins, and ancient drinking cups, too! My Youngest mostly ignored it mostly, to his credit, not snickering or pointing. He did scold me for taking this photo, above, though. "Mom! Don't take a picture of that!" It is beautiful, though - isn't it? Graceful and fluid. I couldn't resist taking a snap of it against the beautiful green background of trees and sunlight.
He did feel it was needful to talk about it on the drive home. Puzzling over what he had been told about turning the channel when 'immodest' women appear on TV during football game commercials, and trying to reconcile that with all the breasts on display at the museum on a school field trip. I puzzled my way through some explanations - art for art's sake, the beauty of the human form as God created it, differences in cultures and time frames, etc. But I'd like some clarification, too. So let me ask you Other Mothers something:
How would you explain nudes in art, specifically the difference between that and nudity in the media today?
Sometimes it's simpler to have girls. There aren't nearly as many naked men in art, and even when there are, girls don't care to dwell on it.
ReplyDeleteI am not a boy and don't have a boy, so I have no authority to say what I am about to say anyway :) I don't think nude art is likely to incite lust. Most nude art was created to celebrate the female form. It celebrates women as image bearers of God and is noticing that what God created is good. It usually even keeps the female form realistic. Have you ever noticed that some of the women in those paintings have a little bulge in their belly and rolls when they sit?
Current media doesn't do that at all. It objectifies women. It takes women who only fit a certain standard of beauty, then airbrushes them until they can't even compare to their own photos and puts them on display for men everywhere to "own" her. It creates a standard of beauty that no woman can attain and tells men that they can have that. Women, as they are, aren't celebrated as image bearers of God at all.
That said, if boys are likely to lust because of nude art, it's probably best to avoid. Let me know, in case I ever have one :)
I am looking forward to reading the comments to this post! Nudity in art and nudity in popular media seem worlds apart in my mind, but I'd like to hear some wise mamas give their views. :)
ReplyDeleteLove that, Katie! Great insight.
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