Support for nude models

Press, 24 January 1984, Page 6

Support for nude models

NZPA-Reuter Peking A newspaper that is the mouthpiece of Chinese intellectuals has spoken out for nude models and the artists who paint them, at a time when the Communist Party is clamping down on “moral pollution.” “Do not confuse the painting of nude models with obscenity,” the “Guangming Daily” pronounced on its front page. It said that artists who aimed for realism had to make a scientific study of human anatomy and movements.

“There are some shameless characters who put nude artworks and life classes to other uses, or behave improperly during the painting of nude models,” the newspaper said.

To stop life classes because of this would be to give up eating because you had choked, the newspaper said.

“Of course, under present circumstances, the painting of nude models should best be restricted to specialist

schools or organisations, under the control of art teachers.”

China’s leaders launched a campaign last year against what they call “spiritual pollution” from abroad, which is mainly aimed at disaffected youth and liberal intellectuals. Papers have since devoted much space to emphasising what spiritual pollution is not, since officials have used the phrase to attack dancing, fashions, and even wealthy peasants.

After a similar controversy in 1964, Mao Tse-tung wrote a letter approving life classes.

Without pulling punches, the “Guangming (which means enlightenment) Daily” said that the ultraLeftist “Gang of Four,” who had ruled China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, had opposed the painting of nudes. It outlined previous episodes when nude artworks had been banned, mentioning the Dark Ages of medieval Europe and the rule of a Chinese warlord.