Disrobing in the name of artistic expression

When Cynthia Lee arrives at work each day, she is prepared to sit still for hours on end, working silently and focusing diligently, much like the hundreds of others who work on campus in one of Penn's academic departments.

But Lee's profession is hardly your average day job and her work is far from routine. She sits not behind a desk, but on a platform situated at the head of a class. She is not lecturing. This is just another day at the office for Lee, one of Penn's many nude models.

Although largely unknown to the Penn community, Lee is one of several males and females, students and non-students alike, who make up Penn's extensive network of nude models. Because the models -- typically employed by the Fine Arts Department for the "Advanced Human Figure Drawing" classes -- are able to bring the curriculum to life, they constitute a vital part of the Penn art classes.

"I'm extremely comfortable with my body, which I think makes it a lot easier for the artists," Lee says. "I see my body as a vehicle of communication and I try to interact directly with the students through it."

Students widely agree upon the importance of using nude models in the classroom.

"Being able to draw a nude model is really an important skill not only for the class, but also in general," says College and Engineering senior Beau Roberts, who is a student in the figure drawing class. "Knowing what someone looks like and being able to draw them without clothes on provides a building block for drawing any type of figure in any situation, nude or clothed."

To ensure that students are provided with the fundamentals necessary for every type of figure drawing, the course maintains a professional, structured atmosphere. The models follow the class' strict guidelines, which require them to hold specific poses for long periods of time, with only a few brief breaks over the course of several hours.

"When I'm modeling, stuff goes numb and things start to cramp up," Lee says. "It's really a challenge because you have to figure out how to make a cramp or an itch go away without interrupting your pose."

In addition to the physical demands of modeling, many nude models initially find the task difficult because of its potentially embarrassing nature.

"At first it was really awkward," says one male model, who wished to remain anonymous. "I definitely felt really uncomfortable initially, and even reconsidered modeling for a few seconds."

Although often overlooked, the process of drawing nude figures can often trigger similar discomfort among the student artists.

"It can be a little startling, especially at first," Roberts says. "You feel self-conscious about where you are looking and feel embarrassed for them, even though it's completely acceptable because it's in an academic, artistic setting."

To minimize the potential discomfort, the Fine Arts Department employs a number of techniques to foster a relaxed, professional atmosphere for both students and models.

"We really try to create a friendly, comfortable safe zone for the models here," Figure Drawing professor Douglas Martenson says. "With things like a 'do not enter' sign on the door and a private dressing room, we really try to create an open atmosphere so that the models don't feel like they are in a shop. We try to help students to stop seeing the models as nudes, and encourage them to look at the models as they would anyone else."

To further reduce the potential awkwardness of the process while simultaneously enhancing students' knowledge of the human form, each figure drawing course requires students to first study textbook human anatomy before they even begin drawing people.

"Learning about the physical structure of the human is really important, because figure drawing is the most realistic and least impressionistic form of art, and learning about anatomy first really helps you to be more accurate," says College and Engineering freshman Jacqueline Marion, a student in Drawing I.

Many students support this approach, because the background knowledge of anatomy not only makes figure drawing easier, but also provides students with a scientific, systematic means of addressing a potentially sensitive subject, virtually eliminating any significant discomfort.

"When you come at it from an anatomical perspective, you really focus on the specific lines and curves," Marion says. "This eliminates any awkwardness because you zoom in on particular areas and stop looking at the model like a nude person in a sexual way."

To further alleviate the potential awkwardness of the process, the models are frequently chosen because of their ability to connect and interact with their artistic audiences. For this reason, models are often performing artists themselves, who are both accustomed to and comfortable in the limelight. Lee, for example, augments her principal income as a dancer and choreographer by modeling at Penn and other Philadelphia-area locations.

The classes are so successful in fostering this comfortable environment that many times, both students and models simply forget that they are not in a more conventional artistic setting.

"I grew accustomed to modeling a lot faster than I thought I would," the initially nervous male model says. "After only a few minutes, the fact that I was naked didn't even phase me I actually almost forgot to put my clothes back on."

These types of reactions, from both models and students, demonstrate that Penn's Fine Arts Department has largely succeeded in incorporating a potentially distracting art form into the curriculum.

"Because it encompasses so many different artistic skills, figure drawing is really a necessary part of the art curriculum," Marion says. "Penn really does a good job of removing the embarrassment and including [nude drawing] in the curriculum."

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