At what point does a nude painting, drawing, print etc, become a
sexual or voyeuristic object? Is art above pornography? Is
eroticism pornography?
The principal characteristic of
voyeurism is that the voyeur does not normally relate directly with the
subject of his/her interest, who is often unaware of being observed.
Voyeurism may involve the making of a secret photograph or
video of the subject during an intimate activity. When the interest in a
particular subject is obsessive, the behavior may be described as stalking.
I have always loved the drawings of
Degas. The way he portrayed women in ‘the moment’ is sensual
and truthful, a skill to be admired. His intimate sketches
are defiantly voyeuristic.
In the late 1880s,
Degas developed
a passion for photography and this new skill influenced
the composition of his paintings. He photographed many of his friends,
dancers and nudes, and used them as source material for his drawings and
paintings.
At what point does Art become pornography?
Does it make it OK for an artist to say he is being erotic in his
work, when a non-artist would be accused of being a pornographer or are
they the same thing packaged differently?
The use of increasingly explicit sexual
imagery in print, on TV, on the Internet, as advertising etc. is common
place. This is not a new phenomenon, the female form has been used to
sell products and services ever since man invented ‘the market place’.
Sexuality is considered one of the most powerful tools of marketing and
advertising.
There is a thin (if not a completely
invisible) dividing line between art and porn. Intent and message maybe
the grey area between them – erotic art is marketed as, and is intended
to be seen as pieces of art, flirting with formal elements of art
processes, for example referring to other historical artworks.
Pornography also uses these tools but its primary intent is to sexually
arouse. The distinction between art and porn is highly subjective and I
would argue that there is really no difference.
Post-advertising sales response studies
have shown that using the naked female form as a tool for attracting
immediate interest is effective – but are we becoming immune to sexy ads
and not bothering to read the sales pitch?
‘Le déjeuner sur l’herbe’ a photographic version.
Edouard Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe (a
large oil on canvas, during 1862 and 1863) caused a big stir at the
Salon des Refusés in Paris, having been rejected by the Salon jury of
1863. Manet seized the opportunity to exhibit this and two other
paintings, at the 1863 exhibition and reveled in the public notoriety
and controversy that followed.
The painting has historic and pastoral
overtones, depicting the juxtaposition of a female nude and a scantily
dressed female bather on a picnic with two fully dressed men in a rural
setting. This painting references previous works of art by Titian
(c.1487–1576) and Giorgione (c.1476–1510). The piece is now in the Musée
d’Orsay in Paris. A smaller, earlier version can be seen at the
Courtauld Gallery, London.
The image above was created using 35mm
negatives that had been taken using a Pentax SP1000 camera. All Pentax
Spotmatics (SP) use the M42 screw-thread lens mount. The lenses are
focused at maximum aperture to give a bright viewfinder image for
focusing, then a switch at the side stops the lens down and switches on
the metering to enable the exposure to be set prior to shutter
release. The above photographs were taken in 1981 and 2012 and merged
together in March 2013.
Bow Wow Wow‘s version of the same painting:
Famously, coinciding with Annabella
Lwin’s posing for album cover work, her mother alleged exploitation of a
minor for immoral purposes, and instigated a Scotland Yard
investigation. As a result the band was only allowed to leave the UK
after McLaren promised not to promote Lwin as a “sex kitten”. This
included an agreement to not use a nude photograph depicting Lwin as the
woman in The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l’herbe), though
the picture was used as the cover of the band’s 1982 RCA EP The Last of
the Mohicans, which became their best-selling album in the U.S.
