Difference Between Art & Pornography

What is the difference between pornography and art?

Art is the process of using one’s skills in creating and sharing objects, experiences, and conditions which stimulates the thoughts, emotions, and beliefs of the audience through their senses.

People have been creating works of art since ancient times as evidenced by the many artifacts uncovered in ruins of ancient civilizations. The way that they were presented has shown modern man how the skills of the artists were developed and how art evolved through the years. The subjects of art can be diverse. They may be of nature, man, geometric patterns, animals, religion, or man’s day-to-day life. One very controversial subject in art is nudity.

The human body has been one of the main subjects for artists. In ancient times, especially in Greek art, the nude male human body was the most common subject. Today, one of the first subjects that artists paint is the nude female body.

Nudity has been a favorite subject in paintings, sculptures, and photography. The practice probably started with the depictions of gods and goddesses in ancient paintings. Since they were deities, they wore none or little clothes, and it was but natural to paint them as such.

Today, however, there is a question of when nudity is considered an art or can be considered as pornography. Pornography is the depiction of the human body for the purpose of erotic and sexual arousal. It can be found in the different types of media: magazines, books, photographs, animation, films, recordings, videos, drawings, sculptures, and paintings. In fact, ancient nude works of art were considered unfit to be displayed by the 19th century people who have uncovered them.

They were, however, made and seen as works of art by those who created them. It is only in recent times that the thin line between nudity in art and pornography has been drawn even closer.

The difference lies in each individual’s perception and interpretation of the subject. It is important to...