Can a nude photograph be considered art? Doesn't it just appeal to the base, animal, or primal instinct in us?

The nude has been a subject of art for thousands of years; photography is just another medium.





Your question suggests you have some unfortunate attitudes there: Base? Animal? Primal? You won't appreciate art in any form until you get away from this gratuitous moralizing about natural matters.





Remember, if your parents had not succumbed to their 'base, animal' instincts you wouldn't be here to ask the question, such as it is.
Can a nude photograph be considered art? Doesn't it just appeal to the base, animal, or primal instinct in us?
The human body is the most beautiful piece of art there is and a photograph is another way of showing others just how beautiful the body is. I agree with the first responder and his comments. It is so easy to let the prudes of the world try to convince us that works of art are pornography. You will get exactly what you want when you look at any piece of art, if you want it to appear animalistic then it will, if you want it to affect your primal instinct then it will, but if you want to see the beauty of it, see the talent of the artist, and see what is trying to be said then you will see that. It is all on you and your attitude to determine what is art to you.
Can a nude photograph be considered art? Doesn't it just appeal to the base, animal, or primal instinct in us?
The ancients considered the body as a work of art. Some of us still do and some confuse nudity with lust and sex.





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Reply:The answer is yes and no.





What it boils down to is the character, interests and mindset of the person viewing it, and also to the nature of the image.





With those variables at work it is unlikely that any two people will see the same image in exactly the same way.





I see most of it as art.


Someone else might have a lower shock threshold and be troubled by images that to others are simply natural.


Yet others with a more base nature will see art in nothing and sex in everything.


While I may not agree with them they are entitled to their own way of seeing things. It's only when people try to ram their views down everyone else's throat that I get antsy about it.





So MM, the answer to your question is


yes, it CAN be considered art,


and


no it doesn't just appeal to those people with the mindset that you mentioned, it is for everyone else too.
Reply:If it is done right, with good lighting, good composition, good pose, good setting, and a person with a nice figure, it is most definitely art. I have seen some of the most beautiful work done in both black %26amp; white and color. If you've done any world traveling, you'd also realize how the human body has been portrayed as art in one form or another since history began. I am NOT, of course, referring to the crap in men's magazines like Hustler, etc, which depicts the naked woman for sexual reasons only, not for art.
Reply:Yes, sometimes. Sometimes not. A photograph is just the same as any other image in this respect. Do you think Michelangelo's 'David' can be considered art, or does it just appeal to the viewer's base, animal or primal instinct?