Artistic nudity versus pornography

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Cabeelibob

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When does artistic nudity become pornography?
Is there such thing as moral nudity in the arts?

And a very specific question, if I write a story in white there is a society that is borderline nudist, is that immoral?
 
Take an online virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel. Notice the artistic nudity in the great works of art.
 
What do you think the core difference is in that and pornography?
 
I’d suggest reading the Catechism’s definition of pornography.
 
I understand that porn is harmful, for the record.

In that case do you think that any presentation of the conjugal act is pornography?
 
No, it is clearly depicted in words in the Bible. But outside of that I can’t recall any situation (barring the tasteful fade to black) where the depiction is not gratuitous or extraneous.
 
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Because of a variety of factors, society has become sexually more emotionally immature since the times of the great Renaissance paintings, so it is more difficult for artistic nudity to exist side-by-side with pornography without the two regrettably often becoming intermixed in the eye of the beholder.

But the fundamental difference is that artistic nudity in sacred art is designed to uplift the glory and dignity of the human person - and by extension to give glory to God - whereas pornography has the diametrically opposite purpose. Pope St JP II is noted for saying that the problem with pornography is not that it shows too much but rather that it shows too little.

Peace.
 
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Cabeelibob said:
I understand that porn is harmful, for the record.

In that case do you think that any presentation of the conjugal act is pornography?
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I can’t think of any scenario where this would serve a constructive purpose. Sometimes affection or kissing is shown in sacred art, but never the conjugal act because that would not do justice to its sacredness and exclusivity. It is conveyed in words in scripture but not in illustration.
 
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If you are an artist who is in serious training, you will have more than one “Life Drawing” class. Learning to draw the human form is a foundational skill, it will also help you to distinguish between art and porn.
 
dochawk said:
The church seems to disagree, given the presence of the Song of Solomon in the canon . . .
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TK421 said:
I can’t think of any scenario where this would serve a constructive purpose. Sometimes affection or kissing is shown in sacred art, but never the conjugal act because that would not do justice to its sacredness and exclusivity. It is conveyed in words in scripture but not in illustration.
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Could you be more specific?
 
How much more specific can I be? It is about the love for his beloved, and very much a depiction of the marital act.
 
The part where having sex is drawn in sacred art (I’m not familiar with any such drawings).
TK421 said:
I can’t think of any scenario where this would serve a constructive purpose. Sometimes affection or kissing is shown in sacred art, but never the conjugal act because that would not do justice to its sacredness and exclusivity. It is conveyed in words in scripture but not in illustration.
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Take an art appreciation class. You will learn the difference between art and pornography.
 
Actually the Sistine Chapel ceiling’s nudity and some of the sexual content was very controversial when first painted. After Michelangelo died they hired another artist to paint fig leaves and loincloths on some of the naked people.


There’s plenty of other Renaissance art that has erotic themes, although it’s not outright porn, because porn is generally considered to be made for the primary purpose of turning somebody on and also considered to have little or no artistic value. Once you get erotic material with some actual artistic value, and I mean some value that isn’t phony-looking and put there to get past the obscenity censors, it’s less clear whether whatever it is, is porn.
 
Matt Fradd authored a great book called the porn myth where he talks about the differences between art and pornography
 
Nudity in art isn’t necessary, and neither is it necessary to tell a story about near-nude people. Try to tell a story that is compelling and necessary for people to hear.
 
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