Is it legal to require art students to photograph themselves nude?

Factual Questions
41

I had a similar experience in a freshman figure drawing class a few years back. On the first day of class, the professor warned us that the final project would be a nude self-portrait, and if we didn’t like it, we should drop the class.

He spent a good deal of time explaining his reasons – e.g. the nude body is wrongfully associated with sexual connotations in our society, the nude is a major theme in the visual arts, the human body is beautiful in all its forms, and too many young people are obsessed with body image and need to confront their fears.

I thought he made a valid point, but that didn’t stop me from dropping the class the next day. I was overweight and very insecure at the time, and I couldn’t imagine myself turning in a nude self-portrait for the professor (and the rest of the class) to see. The decision effectively ended my career as an art major. Sometimes I regret the path I took, but I still have no doubt it was the right thing to do at the time. I wonder how many other students dropped the the class after the first day.

In reference to the OP, I don’t think the assignment is fair, especially since you weren’t warned in advance. Your professor’s intentions may be perfectly innocent, but the fact that he’s asking for photos rings a few alarm bells. In your position I would either request an alternate assignment or accept a failing grade.

42

I have a fine-arts degree from an arts college and this assignment does not sound legitimate to me. The self-drawn portrait is fairly reasonable, in the context of June’s story above, but the photograph is entirely out of bounds.

My suggestion: The photograph should show the woman in her shower stall, her back to the camera, so nothing private is on display. The accompanying sketch should be dominated by an exterior window, with the woman-in-the-shower image visible through it, and in the foreground, outside the window, the instructor, oily and unshaven, is pressing his nose against the glass.

43

Sorry, I just remember my art teacher from high school relating what a former student told her-that he had been assigned this in college-nude self-portrait, I mean. I don’t think anything about photographs was mentioned.

The photograph part, that’s the real kicker.

44

I really think more information is needed to make any reasonable judgment here. If this is a low-level course for non-Art majors (which it probably isn’t, since the OP notes that the student is at some advanced stage of study), then all of these moralizing comments about how bad and wrong it is to push students into confronting nudity may hold some water. I disagree with it, but in the spirit of the OP’s question (“Is it legal?”) I’d have to say, “Maybe not.”

But it seems to me manifestly clear that if we’re talking about any kind of truly advanced course in Art, the professor may ask the students to do some things (not all things, of course) that they don’t like doing, that disgust them, that offend them, that they object to, etc. and that such challenges may be (in this professor’s mind, and in the court’s) perfectly legal.

Let me illustrate: when I taught a course in journalism a few decades back, one assignment was for students to write their own obituaries. Obit-writing is a standard assignment (every journalist should know how to write one, and often obits are assigned to the newest hires on a paper). Some students didn’t like the assignment–they claimed it was creepy. I answered, “Why? You are going to die someday, right? Do you think you’re not? Give yourself the most pleasant way of dying you can think of, speculate how you’re not going to die until you’re 105 years old [they were allowed to include future details if they wanted to have themselves dying at future dates] and have it in by Tuesday evening.”

One student said she wouldn’t write it. It creeped her out too much. I said, “Fine.” She asked what she could write instead. I said “Nothing. You get a zero on this assignment.” She complained to my chairman, who asked me why I refused to give her a makeup assignment. I explained that, not only was the obit assignment an important skill to have in any journalist’s repetoire, it was even more important that reporters don’t apply moral scruples to covering stories. It was a bad habit to get into for a beginning reporter to say that an assignment creeped her out, or bored her, or was over her head. Pull that crap on any paper I ever worked on, and you’re not long for the job. The lesson I was teaching was “Suck it up. You dislike the assignment? Fine. Do it anyway.” I stood my ground, the student took the zero (and ended up failing my course, though not for this one small demerit) and now she teaches in my department and thanks me for helping her learn something important about doing what you’re asked to do.

If this is a true Art course, where students are being taught more fundamental things than how to draw flowers or hands, both important skills, and are taught “What is Art?”, “Is Art always about Beauty?”, “Is Art ever Disturbing or Painful?” andd other truly vital questions, then it’s important that students get creeped out and confronted by these issues.

45

Yeah but just because you’re a hard-ass doesn’t mean that the teacher in the OP is one as well.

Do you think that the editter of a newspaper would ever be able to get away with forcing one of his journalists to submit a nude picture of himself for publication with an article?

46

No more than I’d expect an art teacher to demand that his students submit an obit about themselves.

Art is about one’s vision of the world. Artists must learn to expand their vision (and to reject some of it, after exploring some of the more troubling possibilities). If all artists did was draw and paint things they’re comfortable about on the first day of Art class, they might learn a lot about painting still-lifes or sunsets or children with big eyes, but that’s not why we have courses in art, at least not on the university level. We’re trying to help students see the world, all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly as well as what they first conceive as the beautiful.

Now maybe this guy is a pervert. That’s entirely possible. But if he is, sooner or later, he’ll do something that is unambiguously illegal. This isn’t. I wonder if many of the respondents who object to his pedagogy here (if that’s what it is) aren’t (because they’re not interested in becoming artists themselves) imposing their own morals on what may be an unusually challenging but perfectly legitimate course in art.

47

This isn’t unambiguously illegal, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it violates the school’s sexual harrassment policies. At least if this is at a major university as opposed to an art school – I don’t have any idea what the rules are usually like if it’s the latter. But at a typical university, the definition of sexual harrassment includes any conduct of a sexual nature (including verbal conduct) that has the effect of creating an offensive or intimidating environment, or for which submission to such conduct is made a term or condition of someone’s education or employment.

The teacher could argue that this doesn’t constitute “conduct of a sexual nature” – however, it is clearly the sexual aspect of the assignment that is making the student uncomfortable, and it doesn’t in general have to be the teacher’s intent to create an intimidating environment for it to be viewed as harrassment, so long as that is the effect of his actions. And if the teacher claims he was deliberately trying to create uncomfortable sexual feelings in the students, whether to get them past those feelings or make them better artists or whatever, that’s more of an admission of guilt than it is a defense. You cannot put students in a position where a reasonable person could feel uncomfortable sexually, and be in compliance with university sexual harrassment policies as they are typically stated.

So, I suspect the school administration would give the teacher a fairly short leash on this, even if they believe his aims were pedagogical. If for no other reason than to protect themselves from liability.

Bottom line, even if the teacher’s intentions are entirely appropriate (which frankly isn’t the feeling I get from this), he’s being a fool to handle it this way. He should have offered the students an alternative assigment, or at least made more of an effort to explain the reasoning behind this assignment than he apparently did. As it stands, I suspect he’s exposing himself to the possibility of disciplinary action – at least some sort of official reprimand.

48

I didn’t dispute what you’d said. I said it’s very unusual to assign an entire class to do a nude self-portrait. I’ve had 10+ years of professional art training, both in Fine Art and Graphic Design (I have a Graphic Design diploma with honours in Fine Arts) and never had this done or saw this done. I’ve done and seen lots of work with nude models, either freelance or professional people that the instructor hires to pose for the class. They don’t know the students, the students don’t know them, so there’s no discomfort with the assignment. A student should not be required to do a nude self-portrait unless it’s expressly their choice.

49

As for the comparison to requiring students to write an obit, I think that’s quite different, for one key reason. Universities dont typically have policies that say “instructors can’t make students feel uncomfortable.” They do have explicit policies forbidding instructors from forcing their students into a situation where they feel uncomfortable sexually.

50

But art is traditionally about depictions of the human body. Even if you’re squeamish or prudish or bored by the subject, there’s no getting around its centrality to art, and you need to articulate your position better than “It squicks me out.” If you’re an artist who says, “I’ve never reallly thought about the human body, its sexual and aesthetic nature, its beauty and ugliness,” etc. then you’re not much of an artist. It’s a big part of the subject this guy’s trying to teach.

51

Besides which, I was under the impression that it’s mostly the funeral directors who write obituaries, not necessarily journalists.

52

I don’t know that anyone here is suggesting that university level arts students should be allowed to paint only easy subjects. As your obituary story illustrates, uncomfortable challenges can be very useful educationally.

I have no “moral” problem with nude self portraits. I don’t even necessarily have problem with requiring them, especially in an elective class.

But I do think it’s morally wrong for an instructor to use his authority to coerce young girls to provide him with naked photos of themselves.

A question that only the OP’s friend can answer: did the instructor say, explicitly or implicitly, that a nuder portrait would be more likely to get a better grade than a more clothed one?

53

Simul-post.

It’s NOT about the portrait itself, it’s about giving your male professor a nude picture of yourself. If you HONESTLY do not understand WHY that sends out major alarms (especially after several art majors said drawing from a photo is not a good idea), then I can’t help you.

Please tell me you’re playing devil’s advocate. You can be comfortable with the human body without giving out nude pictures of yourself to your freaking professor. :rolleyes:

54

Okay.

As I noted, I need more particulars to decide if this is creepy or challenging pedagogy. Either is possible.

55

I agree with almost every artist that has posted so far. Still, I have a question for the OP. Was the photo a required part of the assignment, or just a suggestion to help the students capture the subject more easily.

While none of my college level teachers have asked me to draw directly from pictures (in figure drawing), some of the earlier classes suggested in as a “crutch” for mirrorless students when drawing themselves.

I would have to say to Caricci that this statement is somewhat of a stretch. None of the peers that I have, that elected to submit work with themselves as the nude subject, experienced any consequences due to their actions. Most people with personalities that allow them to be that comfortable with their own bodies, do not put much stock in the surprised reactions of others.

56

You misread the question. I didn’t ask how likely such an assignment was, but whether you think in a real life setting an editor would ever be allowed to demand of an employee to get naked and further submit photos. I would personally be quite willing to bet that while as the same editor might be able to require someone to cover the story of a grusome murder complete with photos, for the case of nudity he would have a lawsuit on his hands before the day was out and the newspaper forced to pay a whole lot of money by the court at the end of the trial.

57

Journalists every time.

58

Not always. My father is a funeral director and frequently writes obituaries.

59

He doesn’t publish them in any repurtable newspaper. Funeral directors act as sources, and on some cheap or sleazy papers, their copy may go virtually unedited but must go out under the journalists’ bylines (or sometimes none at all). You’re probably thinking of “funeral notices,” which are essentially paid ads. Obits are always new articles.

60

Sorry for the typoes, which are fixed above.