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I Draw and Paint Naked Peopleby Jayne BehmanFigures with no clothes are a common vision in the westernized world. Society has been bombarded with the view that the nude is directly associated with sex. We can, in part, blame religious groups whose teachings have led us to believe that nudity is sinful and dirty instead of a beautiful part of nature. Surely we can also credit this distorted association to films, advertising, and popular literature. The human figure is one of the most enduring themes in the arts and humanities. Neolithic Era art forms used small female carved statues as gods and goddesses for decorations and religious rituals. The Greeks, a civilization which considered the male nude the embodiment of all that was best in humanity, celebrated the human body. The rise of Christianity placed nudity into the confines of religion, to symbolize the triumph of the spirit over the body. Artworks depicting Christ upon the cross wearing only a loincloth was considered “nude” to the Byzantine. Nudity in art was all but abolished during the medieval era. The Renaissance, credited with the rise out of darkness, revived the focus on the nude as artistic innovation. But, as the world morphed into a more puritanical blend of societies, the “nude” was filed to the art and humanities. The painter Goya was called before the Inquisition to explain his portrait of The Naked Maja (179-1805), one of the few nudes in Spanish Art at that time. Naked figures in art reflect a very complex set of formal ideals, philosophical concerns, and cultural traditions. In the 1580’s life drawing in the Academias became a central discipline. Mastery in figure drawing was considered a pre-requisite for painting. “Life drawing” is the act of drawing the human figure from observation of a live model. This is keen analysis training and not easy. In fact, figure drawing is considered the most difficult subject an artist can tackle, regardless if it is done simply, by line inference, or in great detail. Some artists focus on the shapes, develop voluptuous volumes in color, or simply depict the emotion. Leonardo da Vinci took an anatomical approach. Carravachhio, Rubens, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, all masters who incorporated the figure into their works, sometimes changing the image to fit an underlying theme. There are several figure drawing opportunities along the Central Coast as long term commitments and available as drop in visits. Every Friday, from 9am to Noon, you pay $9.00 for an informal figure-drawing drop-in session. Each session begins with quick gesture poses and then moves to 25-minute poses. These sessions are held at Morro Bay’s Community Center located at 1001 Kennedy Way (no contact phone number). Ongoing sessions Wednesday evenings from 6:30-9:30 are held at San Luis Obispo’s Art Center located at 1010 Broad Street provide longer timed poses for the sculptor and painter at the cost of $8. members, $10 nonmembers, (805)543-8562. The Paso Robles Art Association hosts a Life Drawing guild that meets twice monthly, Monday mornings without an instructor beginning at 9:30am at 2208 Golden Hill Road (805)238-5473. Individual artists also host figure drawing and painting workshops. Formal figure drawing and painting classes are offered at Cuesta College, Hancock College, and Cal Poly University. Artists, regardless of their years of experience, consider drawing from the figure a basic artistic discipline. And yes, I draw naked people.
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A professional artist for over 42 years, Jayne earned her BFA at UCLA and is completing her MFA at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Her artwork is represented by galleries in the United States, including three locations along California's Central Coast. A lecturer and educator, she Contact Jane Behman
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