Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-11-25
THE NUDE In ART.
A Detroit Lady Who Believes That
Naked Women on Canvas
are Naughty.
A Paper Suggested by the Picture of
"Tlie Nymphs BATHING"


The following paper by Mrs. Hele
p. jenkins was read to the Detro;
Women's club at its last meeting. an,
was received with very general az
prevail:
l have been requested by Mrs. Ston
10 give, in connection with a sketch O
Bouguere ~, my opinion in regard +
the nude in art" ! do not p,opos
TO enter upon any crusadea against 9Th,
nude, nor do ! come with severe con.
domination of this one particular pic
lure by Bouguereau, which 0f w,
must nave THE nude" in art is IA,
beautiful picture, with 1T
SOIL; low coioring, as ar
could possibly make it-bul
wish simply to give my conviction
upon this branch of art in general. II
seems 10 me there are two serious oh
Jections to the exhibition ofpictures of
nude women. First the indecency of
II. 1 DO not believe it can be gainsaid
That what is indelicate in actual lie
does not lose its indelicacy when re-
produced in art.
III dozen naked women entered q
room filled with people, we would be
shocked ut the immodesty, the down.
right Vuigarlty of the proceeding. If
au artlst places these dozen women on
canvas, for the public TO gaze at, has
lhe lndelicacy entirely disappeared?
L think we deceive ourselves in try
ing 10 educate ourselves not to care
"hen the nakedness of our sex is ex-
posed To public view. ! know there
are many women who choke back
their objections, who dare not say II
Word against such exposure, because it
Is art, high art. and they are told art
excuses everything and art must have
inns iield, and they fear they may ex-
pose their ignorance of art by con-
dehihlng thing which has been APP
proved 10y artists for centuries.
My dear women, the artists of the
past nave been men, and men have
done in art eXac'ly what they did in
literature-madeit frequently Indecent
I'll women entered there and bravely
demanded II publication.
or course the artist would cry out in
dlgnanily II lie was TO be denied this
field for his brush, the nnatomist
groWls ana demonstrates when vivisec-
ton is refused him, but art can do
without the one quite as well as il has
been decided science can do without
the other.
If the artist must paint the nude let
nm paint his own sex or paint chill
dfen-he has no right to snatch from
women the covering that civilization
ana decency have ordained they must
wear.
This idea of decency, which is a large
factor IN civilization, is right-it is to
be trusted, 1t means something, aud
can not with impunity be diregarded.
However beautiful the female form
may be, the dciicacy which clothes it
ana iorblds the world to contemplate it
y more beautiful still: and art, though
t claims for itself great prerogntves,
las no right to wound womanhood by
nsultingly ignoring this delicacy, and
men seeking to pervert the judgment
d women by i'attery and false argu-
hents, so they shall make no protest
against such treatment.
me second objection | make to the
'Nhibition of pictures of nude women
SUN more important one-it is n
moral one. Every picture appeals to
III The nature of the OBJ
erver, and art, 10 serve its
ilGnest purpose, should address it. |
'ell TO the noblest and purest
impulses and feelings. There is sufli-
lent sensuousness in human nature |
hHsWer all human needs without |
making any effort to arouse IL. II Is
requently said with great uncticn III
indication of the nude that ITO the
'ure an t'lngs are pure" but that is
10 Vindication, for all are not pure,
nd we are our brothers Keeper
or pure women we feel no concern.
hey need not be taken In considera-
ION IN this matter at all.
What IN amazing blunder some men
lake IN fancying the vulgarity and
eductions of the world threaten only
heir wives and their daughters-that
no infection reaches women no harm
done. The gentleman of this city
rho expressed his intention
Take his wife To see Bougue-
eau's "Nymphs and Satyrsn in
tokes' restaurant, In New York city,
nd said he did not believe the picture
'ould harm her at all. has small COM
rehension Of the situation. Harm
en-. A pure woman may pass through
ne mire Of sin without speck or
nge, with only her heart made holier
nd more tender. All, the eyes are
'zing in the wrong direction. The
iemy Is not approaching from that
de IL is sweeping up from the OPP
,site direction toward where our SONS
e bivouacked.
80 long as throughout the whole
lde world, in every city and every
wn, there are places of ill-repute pre-
red to meet the demands Of sensuali-
4, 50 long as we are told by gifted men
ID good men like Lecky, the histo- !
N, that there IL no hope that this /