Before getting into the meat of this post, I need to apologize my loyal readers for my lack of posts over the past 2 weeks. I have been very busy with work and modeling, but I should have at least squeezed in a quick post or two…the worst way to start a new blog is with 2 weeks of silence! So, I apologize for not posting – I promise to be more diligent in my attention to Figuratively Speaking!
As an art model, I’ve come to the point where I feel much more comfortable posing nude with a very minor prop – such as a staff or stool or pillow – than with any sort of “fancy” accompaniment. I’ve been asked to pose in varying degrees of dress (or undress), including a bathrobe open in the front, my underwear, nude except for a scarf, nude except for a sheer stocking over my face, etc. I’ve also posed with various props such as books, flowers, animal carcasses (that’s another topic altogether), flowers, and toy guns. Using props and posing in different degree of nudity isn’t a big deal to me, but as a personal preference I’d rather be up there completely naked with no other props.
Posing nude is much easier for a model than posing with exotic draping.
The reason, you ask? Well, I think it has to do with simplicity more than anything else. I know how my body looks in different poses, and can control my weight distribution for long, difficult poses. It is very easy for me to find an interesting pose and stick with it for as long as necessary. But posing with props or costumes adds a layer of complexity than makes things more difficult. No longer can I simply pay attention to my own body, but I must take care so that the prop or costume looks interesting as well. A standing pose is all well and good, but if I’m asked to hold balloons and make it look interesting? How can I make sure the pose looks exactly the same after a break? How do the balloons change the way the light shines on my body, and am I changing that light with minor movements?
Posing nude with an open robe is fine, but I must find a pose that is not only interesting in terms of my body position, but also is interesting in the way the robe drapes my body. And with a robe (or any garment) it is much harder to maintain consistency after breaks. So I prefer taking the stand all by myself – just my nude body, perhaps with a “support” prop or two. Certainly makes my job easier!
One of the interesting compositions I’ve participated in as a model occurred at a large university advanced life drawing class. The instructor was very nice, but had a very “morbid” personality: she wore plain black clothes, and had a fascination with dead animals (hence the animal carcass). In one class she had me pose as a “drunken king.” Easy enough on the surface: I was nude sitting on a nice pile of soft cushions and pillows – no art model is going to complain about that. But then came the interesting part. To enhance the monarch motif, she asked me to wear one of the old Burger King paper crowns on my head. I don’t like head pieces while modeling (throws off my balance), but this wasn’t a difficult pose and the “crown” was light.
So my pose wasn’t particularly hard, but to top it off she scattered chicken bones all around me on the cushions. Yes, partially eaten and cleaned bones with morsels of meat still clinging to the ends. The odor was less than pleasant, to say the least. Finally she brought in several empty beer bottles and a large wine bottle – I held the wine bottle in one hand and she placed the empty beer bottles around me, intermingled with the chicken bones. The idea was that I was a drunken king after a sumptuous orgy. I didn’t mind that, but instead of empty bottles and chicken carcasses couldn’t she have brought in a (preferably nude) fair maiden or two???
So there I was, posing nude with a Burger King paper crown, an empty wine battle in one hand and an array of actual cleanly eaten chicken bones and beer bottles scattered about – I basically looked like the guy who had too much to drink at the sports bar the night before. I’m pretty open-minded and easy-going as a model, so I had no problem finishing the multiple-class pose. But it brought to mind Caravaggio’s famous Bacchus. I have to wonder: did his model pose with actual wine and fruit? It’s a step up from bones and empty bottles, but still. And check out that headpiece – now that’s too much!
Bacchus, by Caravaggio. 1596.
Props are a nuisance. Props are a hassle. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoying posing with a prop. And excessive use of props, like the drunken king scenario you described, starts to border on absurdity. I used to work at the New York Studio School which was obsessed with props! They would set up models amid an endless sea of junk that looked like something out of Sanford and Son. Just one of many reasons I left that place.
I agree with you 100% about the beauty and simplicity of the nude human form, alone, without objects. It’s definitely easier for us models as far as posing. But besides that, the statement is more stunning and sublime without clutter.
Fabrics are nice, though, as they add texture, reflect light, and serve to enhance the figure rather than distract from it. I’m okay with fabrics. But the other stuff I can do without. Also, artists can easily paint those things in later without the model present. I’ve known many artists who have done that.
Excellent post! And don’t worry about your posting lulls. It happens. You’ll get into the steady groove in due time
Claudia
Thanks for the comment, Claudia. Yes, I neglected the pure beauty of the nude figure without props – excellent point. Thanks for your inaugural post on the blog – quite an honor!
I used to do some modeling myself back in the days. A painter, a grad student at the New York Academy of Art asked me to model for an oil painting he was working on. I was imagining myself as Zeus or something, but when I showed up at the studio he wanted me to pose for a picture of a homeless man lying in the gutter. I was so flattered that he had chosen me as the model for that!