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Girlie mags for "life drawing"?
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Message
Posted
Not a lot.
What I do notice when these pics are posted is that they are ALWAYS done by men! Poor women most of them are distorted and in all the years I have done life drawing I have never seen any of these shapes.
These days life drawing groups are run in a lot of places and like any sort of drawing a tree, an animal ...whatever , if it's in front of you and properly observed and an honest drawing made it will be so much better than some of this stuff on the gallery. There are various downloads on the Internet these days with life models on them . These are the next best thing to a life drawing group they have real models both male and female.
This lot also make me giggle at the coy expressions on the models faces.
Posted
Some of the gallery nude studies appear rather comical to me, apart from being out of proportion in some respects. As for quoting academic qualifications I can also claim a BA and MSc but they have nothing to do with art in any way so what is the point? Even if they were 'fine art' degrees it doesn't add anything to the picture itself, which should do all the communicating an artist intends.
Posted
Well, at last a subject that has caused some reaction, and I for one am pleased that Marjorie started it, because I also find this degrading work (I hesitate to call them drawings) unacceptable. I don't even think that these are the worst from this person who I refer to as Mr BA. Some other recent ones have been in very bad taste also and very derogatory towards women. A cursory glance at his gallery will confirm this.
I did make an adverse comment on his work a while back and since then I have been subjected to an almost weekly tirade of abuse and general sniping with comments, starting with my older postings and working his way up, but I don't even bother reading them now, and am considering having a talk with Dawn about it.
I always try and treat women with the greatest respect and like Sylvia, and others online, always endeavour to portray any life drawing as it should be portrayed, with dignity. The standard of drawing is irrelevant, that's not the issue here.
I'm not sure if I missed out on my school days Sylvia - I never did rude drawings, I don't think!!!!
Posted
I can understand the problem if you want to draw the nude but can't get to a life class or hire your own models - Alan Stevens was mentioned earlier, who does hire his own; as does Dennis Spicer (who also doesn't show here any more: it would be good if some of them came back). But this isn't cheap, nor is it always the safest thing in the world to advertise for models for life drawing - I would imagine there's a way if you just search it out, though; there are art schools, ateliers, art centres; and professional models don't all charge a fortune.
It is not a straightforward subject; some drawings are very explicit, but leave you with no suspicions as to their intention; others, frankly, give you the creeps: we've had all sorts on here over the years. I remember finding some quite strong drawings entirely acceptable, but others didn't; on the whole, I'm happy enough with drawings and paintings where the intention is honest - but it's subjective, and open to interpretation always. Does the quality matter - well, I suppose to the extent that a very well accomplished drawing or painting might indicate a genuine interest in the form, rather than what you might call salacious exaggeration; some people have a strong reaction against Lucian Freud's work or Jenny X (I've forgotten her name, but she paints very large pictures of often very large women). But these two do not exaggerate - the forms they paint(ed) might be extreme to some eyes, but are based on close observation - they work on different levels, but one of these is the exploration of form, and humanity through form. .
You can complicate this till the cows come home, and I was accused of doing that by one of the practitioners of nude drawings/paintings of women - however: I think you can tell when a work is primarily erotic in intent rather than aesthetic, and when a piece is only erotic or sub-pornographic without much in the way of artistic intent at all; I find these works exploitative, and they're usually crude into the bargain, in concept and in execution. I'm not one of nature's censors by any means, but am conscious - as others have pointed out before - that children visit this site.
Incidentally - actually it's NOT incidental - if a member is being harassed or insulted for expressing an opinion, that needs to be stopped: people are entitled to defend their work against criticism, but not to be gratuitously rude to others; I'd be confident in discussing this with Dawn, whose judgement I believe we can trust implicitly, and would encourage Alan to do that if it continues.
Posted
I wondered what you meant, Gudrun, until I took a look at the Gallery - it all became very clear, very quickly! Yes, the contrast is wonderful to behold. I'm for people drawing and painting what they want, in the way they want to paint it - but there's no doubt in my mind which is the real work of art and which is .... less accomplished: is that tactful enough...?
I've known a number of doctors and surgeons, incidentally, who were highly competent artists in their spare time: I wonder why that is, and suppose that observation, and a delicacy in handling tools and people, must be part of the explanation. The drawing you're referring to is exquisite - not because of its subject particularly, but for its treatment; that I think is the point some others need to think about. I think the artist's name is Alan Riley - I forget names almost as soon as I've seen them in front of me these days - and he was a neuro-surgeon at the London Hospital, Whitechapel. Well, he has a future as a fine artist if he carries on like this.
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