I’ll admit that I’m not much of an artistic genius. My greatest achievement in this field occurred when I was four years old and finger painted on the kitchen wall. Still, I have a great love of the fine arts that exists without my ability to create anything on that level myself.
Among the different fields in painting and sculpture is that of the nude. We have a fine arts program on this campus, and I know a young lady who has modeled in the buff for some of these aspiring artists. We’re all grown ups here, at least in the form of years if not attitudes, and the human body is nothing to be ashamed of. Or is it?
The College of Southern Idaho, a state-funded community college in Twin Falls, has banned nude paintings and sculpture from their art show and moved these exhibits away from the main show into a separate showing area in a different building. According to the Associated Press, the college will still fund the exhibit but moved it due to its “adult” nature. College president Jerry Beck told the Twin Falls Times-News that he feels the art had to be put in the right place.
Prudery is nothing new in a nation founded in part by Puritans. While once we might have hoped this movement had been dealt a death blow by liberalism and culture, sadly its zombefied form stalks the field again. In large part, America’s culture wars have left the fine arts alone – although for those old enough to remember the blowups over the National Endowment for the Arts funding shows in which controversial artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano appeared, even the fine arts have not escaped unscathed.
I have not seen the art in question. I assume that it is nothing more than the run-of-the-mill, mildly controversial student work that has appeared at this University for years without complaint. I often walk through the gallery in the Union, and in years past I used to make a trip every semester to the art museum under the Memorial Tower. As I have said, I have no artistic talent myself, but I appreciate that artists strive in all fields to show truth and beauty as they see it.
While the college has offered to house the art in another location, some artists have withdrawn their work, while other seem resigned to conforming to the social mores of their community. In the AP article art professor Michael Youngman, who had a nude piece – a painting called “Virgin Accosted by Four Males” in which a nude woman is surrounded by four Dobermans – seems to speak for the majority of artists. Youngman said that while he does not feel nudes are a big deal, he decided long ago not to fight the issues in his town.
That’s a sad statement, but unfortunately I suppose it’s typical of those who live in culturally conservative towns where the folks in charge seem to forget that the purpose of universities and culture are to challenge, teach and educate, not stick to bland conformity and stifle its artists.
Is it really too much to ask that some culture that deviates from the norm such as nude art be allowed to be shown with other art? Or are the citizens of southern Idaho too bovine and too sensitive to allow their sensibilities to be challenged? I have nothing against the people of Idaho – I’m sure they’re simply citizens doing the best they can in the land of potatoes.
Nor is the Gem State the worst state in the nation; that honor goes to Arkansas.
Still one wonders what would have happened if similar provincialism were allowed to dictate the artistic traditions of our culture.
Imagine, if you will, David with boxer shorts, a Venus de Milo with a brassiere or the nudes in Michelangelo’s paintings covered up on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Oh wait, some jackass named Daniele da Volterra did that in response to demands from the religious authorities.
I’m not saying that everyone has to enjoy the art on display. Lord knows I’m not a fan of most modern painting or cultural styles. However, it is not the purpose of the community to retard the freedom of its artists at public universities. Let’s do our best to keep this neo-puritanical nonsense away from our state and help defeat it everywhere we can.
After all, if you don’t like something, just look away.
 
Ryan is a history senior. Contact him
at [email protected]