NUDITY

/ janpriddyoregon

Years ago, the Art teacher at the coastal high school where I was also a teacher for thirty years asked the Biology teacher to pick up a special-order book for her while she was shopping at Powell’s Book Store in Portland. (I was not that Art teacher—I taught Art in Washington State—this was Sandy, the reason I went on to teach English.) Diane drove 80 miles over the coast range to Powell’s and was horrified to discover that there was a nude on the cover of the book. Yes, a naked man! Michelangelo’s David. She was embarrassed to be seen with the book. No, I am not kidding.

WARNING: This marble statue of David (the one who slays the evil giant in the Bible) is totally naked.

A massive block of Carrara marble was cut and transported to Florence in 1464. The famous work was begun in 1501 and completed by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni at the age of 29 in 1504. Intended to be placed high as one of a series of prophet images, the seventeen foot tall sculpture was too heavy to move to that location and was instead sited in a square where the biblical hero was visible to all and recognized as a symbol of civil liberties. In more recent times, the marble showed damage from exposure and was moved indoors, and a replica placed in the square. Another replica of the six ton sculpture has since been placed in the originally intended location in Florence Cathedral.

About that art book: I was present while Diane explained how embarrassed she was to carry the book through the book store. Sandy laughed. So did I. Apparently, as I now understand it, Sandy and I were both out of touch with the delicate sensibilities of Americans who do not want their children to know what naked people look like.

David from the rear, showing the sling over his back. photo: Xosema – Own work. Michelangelo’s David in the Acadamy Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Parents must be informed before their children are exposed to such trash. According to the BBC, “Principal Hope Carrasaquilla of Tallahassee Classical School said she resigned after she was given an ultimatum by the school board to resign or be fired.” I heard an interview of a School Board member, and yep, that’s what he said happened. In my mind it is pathetic that while the BBC did include an image of David at the head of the article, that image shows the sculpture of the biblical figure from the chest up. Way to wuss out, BBC! So I’ll do it too. Wuss out—me!

I just read Alexandra Petri’s satirical essay wherein she speculates about the disclosure letter that the principal failed to send out to parents, warning them that their elementary-age children might be exposed to ART in the art class. Petri then reviews images of other famous artworks, offering the “acceptability” pros and cons of each. “Parents, be warned! There will be art in this art class.”

According to Wikipedia, “ ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’ (French: Un dimanche après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat‘s most famous painting.” While this painting depicts people at leisure instead of at church on a Sunday, you will be relieved to note that if you walked up very close, it is only dots and Petri believes it is thus harmless to children.

Okay, so I am not overly fond of drag shows, but mostly they are funny, and that’s okay, isn’t it? Strippers? Not so much. But I am not easily offended. Perhaps I am hardened. Growing up, I had a father and brother, and a mother and my own body. No one flaunted their nakedness, but I was aware of body parts, even the covered bits, even as a child. I also had parents who quoted Shakespeare, sang Gilbert and Sullivan to one another, and took their children to art museums. No one shielded me from marble statues at any age. In my first term at the University of Washington School of Art, I drew from live models of both sexes. I was seventeen. It was not particularly embarrassing after the first minute. So perhaps I am the one at fault. You think?

Just in case, I did not show you David’s naughty bit. Just in case. Wouldn’t want anyone ruined by nude.

14 thoughts on “NUDITY”

  1. I cannot believe it has come to this! Of course, I’ve known Florida (and those other southern states) are crazy, probably from the heat and humidity, but this has just gone too far the other side of crazy. I know the south wants to keep fighting the Civil War and to have their slaves back on the plantations, but I thought the rest of the nation smarter than that. Maybe not.

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  3. Thanks for the laugh about a silly and sad situation. The statue of David is beautiful, and some people need to get a grip. That principal should never have been forced out. I don’t care if she forgot to send the notice to parents or not. I can just image what kind of television shows those kids are allowed to watch or what kind of video games they play. All of which I think have more negative influence on kids. And the social media that they follow is often depressing them. At least David is beautiful, stunning, and inspiring. Every time I see that statute, I think, damn, someone turn stone to life!

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    • It is stunning work and widely recognized as such. The shameful area was covered with a leaf in the nineteenth century for a time (many great works were), but how anyone could fail to appreciate Michelangelo’s accomplishment then or now defies my understanding. I studied that sculpture over and over, in many classes, how the proportions were distorted to overcome viewing from below, how the work itself was praised from the first. There is that and La Pietà, the massive Madonna and the shattered Christ, Moses, and of course, the painted ceiling.

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  4. Unbelievable, the ridiculous extremes to which such school systems have gone. David is among the most classic of artworks (and unfortunately, the one time I’ve gotten to see him, he was behind scaffolding – perhaps the Florida school boards got to him first?) The Post is my local paper and I always enjoy Alexandra Petri – I loved this particular column but felt a little sad that it might be the coming reality.

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  5. Why are all those people staring at David’s butter knife? Haven’t they got laundry to do? Maybe when it’s clean, they could even lend him some trousers to help them with their jealousy issues and we could all get back to more important things like interplanetary thought-wave interpretations or radioactive tombstone sizes—remember when ordering your food—no problem, David!

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  6. You know, I really hate it when Florida makes the national news, more so when it’s Tallahassee. I can only hope that by the time DeSantis officially starts his run for the presidency, the rest of the country won’t have the stomach for him. It might be hard to imagine, but he’s worse than tRump.

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