Modeling Life: Art Models Speak About Nudity, Sexuality, And the Creative Process [Paperback]

Sarah R. Phillips (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0791469085 | ISBN-13: 978-0791469088 | Publication Date: October 12, 2006

A fascinating consideration of the work of life models and the models' own perspectives on their craft.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This is a book about life modeling. Unlike the painter whose name appears beside his finished portrait, the life model, posing nude, perhaps for months, goes unacknowledged. Standing at a unique juncture--between nude and naked, between high and low culture, between art and pornography--the life model is admired in a finished sculpture, but scorned for her or his posing. Making use of extensive interviews with both male and female models and quoting them frequently, Sarah R. Phillips gives a voice to life models. She explores the meaning that life models give to themselves and to their work and seeks to understand the lived experience of life models as they practice their profession. Throughout history, people have romanticized life models in an aura of bohemian eroticism, or condemned them as strippers or sex workers. Modeling Life reveals how life models get into the business, managing sexuality in the studio, what it means to be a "muse," and why their work is important. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Sarah R. Phillips is Associate Professor of Sociology at Pacific University. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (October 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791469085
• ISBN-13: 978-0791469088
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #611,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MODELS IN THEIR OWN WORDS, March 14, 2007

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Inti Cristobal Santamaría Bolaños "El Tejano ... (México, D.F. Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modeling Life: Art Models Speak About Nudity, Sexuality, And the Creative Process (Paperback)

Sarah Philips undertook this research in Portland, during the mid-1990s. She puts in print words of art models themselves, which surprisingly hadn't happened much before. In the book we can read four more or less extended interviews with models, but dozens of conversations took place. Philips relates the models' words with interesting theoretical issues. It's a very enlightening book, since we come to know a very ignored and undervalued occupation. The book raises questions such as:

Why are there more female than male art models?
Is the myth that a model is an artist's mistress true?
Is a model the same as a stripper?
Does modeling objectify or degrade the person (usually the woman), as some feminists say?
Why would nudity be empowering and boost the model's self-confidence?
Why would someone do this job, normally part-time, since they could earn more money elsewhere? (In Portland, in the 1990s, they earned from $8.50 to $10 an hour.)
Is modeling always passive?
Why do most models underrate photography as "less artistic" than drawing, for instance?
What's the role of pornography, especially on the internet, when handling photos of artistic nudity?
What specific boundaries exist in personal space, verbal contact or eye contact when posing?
What's the difference between a "sublimely" sensual pose and a blunt sex pose?
How do models handle cold, and physical stressful or painful poses?
How do models deal with erections and menstruation?

There are no definite answers, but the discussion is really fascinating. Not all models agree upon all issues, and age and gender usually influence the answers.

I think the core of the whole question is the fact that in art modeling there are new rules, for our everyday regulations are upside down: a person doesn't hide his/her nakedness, and the others ARE supposed to observe it. The boundary is the motto "nothing unusual is happening". Don't behave as if this situation is abnormal, surprising, sexually arousing or deserving lewd peeking. It's just natural for professional artists and models to work with nudity, which can make many newcomers and art students blush.

Nudity in art is not for a particular physical aesthetics that discriminates all other bodies. It's not for sexuality, either. It's rather a celebration of the natural, general beauty of every human body, no matter its shape, color, size or other specific characteristics.

I am a painter myself, and I always work with the female nude. I can say that I am grateful to my models for their good work and professionalism. They are the body of my art, and they inspire its soul. As the model "Michael" says in the book: "If it wasn't for us, we wouldn't have a lot of the greatest works of art." For all the curious, and all of us artists who work with models, this book is necessary to understand, not stigmatize this indispensable job, in the models' own words.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the bare facts, November 2, 2008

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R. K. Vandusseldorp "by Kent" (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modeling Life: Art Models Speak About Nudity, Sexuality, And the Creative Process (Paperback)

I enjoyed the book because I am an art model and it was great to read about models and their experiences. I thought it was great that the book covered a broad spectrum of issues related to life art models. I wish the interviews with models would have covered more locations than just 1 city.
I would recommend the book to any art model or anyone interested in becoming an art model. Would also recommend to artists who use art models.

5.0 out of 5 stars A study of interest beyond the arts community..., January 8, 2010

By 

FigureArtist - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Modeling Life: Art Models Speak About Nudity, Sexuality, And the Creative Process (Paperback)

A book about nude art modeling might be expected to be of little serious sociological interest, but this book zeros in on the central questions that arise concerning how and why otherwise ordinary people choose a role so misunderstood by the majority culture in the US, and find in it fulfillment, creativity, fun, and pride. Nothing highlights the assumptions and prejudices of a society better than a contrary instance, and what happens in a figurative art studio is a perfect example. Along the way, a useful list of what an aspiring art model needs to know and do is presented, better than any dry list in a how-to manual.

The only limitation is that this is the reporting of interviews during a particular period (before widespread internet use?) and in a particular place (Portland, OR; certainly not typical).