Nudity in kids’ art books

It’s not a huge issue for me. I don’t think all nudity is necessarily bad or inappropriate. We study a lot of art because my daughter is highly creative and artistic. I never deface our books. We simply skip over offending parts. In fact, there have been disturbing images in our science or history books as well. I remember a rather scary monkey face that we covered with a post-it note. Returning to the book years later, my daughter was no longer scared by the image, so we removed the paper. Nudity may be similar. Certain ages can handle it while some cannot.

We recently studied Picasso, and nudity is huge with him. When the image troubled my daughter, we turned the page. But if she was okay with it, then we would go ahead and study it. Having a sensitive daughter makes a difference, I think. If I had a son, my approach would probably be different.

Basically each family has to find what works for their particular beliefs and sensitivities. We are all different.

I know this is kind of old, but putting my two cents in….

My husband and I have raised 3 sons, the oldest is now almost 14 and the youngest 9. When they have encountered things like that, or asked questions, we try to answer them honestly, accurately (with correct terminology) and then move on.

Obviously, the best line of defense is just not to let the kids see what you think is objectionable, but you’re right, what passes as “child-appropriate” these days is absurd, and unfortunately, you don’t know what they’ll see at a friends house. If they do encounter things like that we’ve found that a concise,

brief answer that is still accurate works the best. And, they may not even have to see things in books or movies to ask. When our youngest was very small, maybe 5, he asked lots of questions about what the different parts of his body were. Our middle child asked us why men couldn’t have babies, and the answer of that a baby grows inside a uterus, which only women have sufficed for him. Normally when we are honest with them they will just go along on their way and don’t give it much more thought.

Just some of my experiences 🙂

I don’t know if it is a cultural difference between Europe and the US, but nudity is not such a big issue over there in general.  I was fortunate to be raised in a home that was able to visit art galleries in various European Cities, where there was a lot of nudity on display.  I saw the works of Michaelangelo, Rubens and Botticelli in Rome and Paris. We also saw the Sistine Chapel, which I will never forget for its beauty –  our daughters saw the statue of David in Rome and were stunned by the mastery of the sculpture, far more than shocked at the naked aspect of it.   My parents raised me not to be shocked by the human form and to understand that the human body made by God is beautiful – (they were far more strict about me seeing violence). As such I have never been shocked by any art I have seen, though I like some artists better than others.  I therefore have never hidden any paintings from our girls, they have grown up with large coffee table art books, and have enjoyed the works of art immensely.  It is interesting to me that they have not been harmed by this experience at all, they are extremely modest girls and have no interest in showing off their own bodies, but they certainly have an appreciation for fine art in all its forms.  I respect any parent who wants to vet the books and art  they show their children, that is for each family to decide, and there is much art that is highly valuable that does not contain nudity – to me it is just a small part of all the amazing art that is out there,  so I don’t think that is a problem.  I also think that if a family feels strongly enough that their children should not see nudity, then it will be fine, not everything that Botticelli or Michaleangelo painted involved nudity – so you can still study those artists and avoid the things that are not acceptable for your own family.  If you visit the galleries in Europe though it would be hard to avoid I have to say, I am sure that may be the same here, though I have not had the pleasure yet of visiting a famous gallery here.  There is so much wonderful art out there, it would not be easy to avoid nudity if one should want to.

I was strongly encouraged by a wise homeschool mom that I greatly admire, to expose/not shelter kids from classic art that has nudity. I have heard that exposing it to them young helps them to appreciate the form as art and not as pornography. (In cases where that is what it truly is.)  Then when your kids grow up to young men and women they can discern between the two.

All that to say, it goes against everything I have ever been taught and I’m not sure how we will present it to our kids who are still very young. I still need to talk this one over with my husband.  I feel I was over sheltered as a child in the area of modesty and sexuality and am trying to find the balance to it all.

Ladies,

I just wanted to say thank you all for sharing your thoughts.  I often times feel alone in that I do not hide nudity in art from our children, and that we talk openly and honestly (and age appropriately) with them about these things at a young age.  This has been encouraging for me.  I don’t want anyone to feel like I think they are doing the wrong thing for their family, each family is different and needs to handle things in a different way.  It’s just nice to know I am not the only family like mine!! 🙂

Even though we have different ideas on this subject, I very much respect your views and I have a suggestion.  Rather than buy one big book, why don’t you purchase some calendars of artists, or packets of prints of artists, that way you can discern which ones to discard and which to use.  I think there are many web sites that you could look at as well, and print off some paintings that are to your taste.  Olga’s Art Gallery is one – she has the nudes as well, but you can find loads of paintings that are not of nudes if that is what you prefer.  Ambleside online have some great prints and if you join the forum you can download them and print them off or look at them on your computer.  I have those and print them off, and pin them on a board, which we leave up in central location where we see it often.  I hope these ideas help, the truth is, if you are not comfortable with the nudes, you will not be comfortable with them in your home, so you should without concern or worry use what you are happy with and not worry about the rest of us.  Do what is right for you and you won’t go wrong.  I hope my suggestions help in some small way.  Linda

Another option is to take a Sharpie marker and black out any photos/images that you deem inappropriate that might be in an otherwise good book you own.

Regarding Art curriculum, we have used ARTistic Pursuits (www.artisticpursuits.com) and greatly enjoy it. Brenda Ellis has done a good job of presenting the “masters” without exposing her audience to any “undesirable” content. I highly recommend it!