Models hit out at ‘stigma over nudity’ in life drawing class safeguarding row

Models have hit out at the “societal stigma about nudity” after a life drawing class which has been running for 30 years was asked to either cover its nude muses up or find a new venue due to “safeguarding concerns”.

Tony Swann, who ran a daytime life drawing class at the Hampstead Community Centre, was asked to either move to the evening or clothe its naked models as it was being held between two children’s sessions.

The Community Centre described it as a “simple scheduling decision reflecting our duty as trustees to balance the needs of the centre’s many users and activities”.

Mr Swann, an art teacher from east London, was reportedly offered an evening slot at a discounted rate, but found that only two of his 25 class members were willing to attend at this time.

When he asked attendees about drawing clothed models, they declined because it was a life drawing class. He has had to move to a new venue, the Quaker Meeting House.

He told The Sunday Times: “The class has been running for 30 years and in that time no children have been outraged, no parents have been outraged.”

A number of life models told The Independent the decision was a “great shame” which was “driven by ignorance” and “feeds into this quite strong societal stigma about nudity”.

Valentina Rock, who has worked as a life model for 10 years and modelled at the Hampstead Community Centre, called it “one of the best classes in the area.”

She said it was a “shame” to hear that the class had been forced to move, as she called life drawing “an absolutely healthy, wholesome environment.”

“I found it shocking that a class that has been going on for so long has to be closed for that reason. We’re not going to go around naked around the space, nobody would,” she said.

Esther Bunting, who has been working as a life model for 18 years, also worked in the life drawing group and called Mr Swann “a really solid, good person.”

She said: “It’s basically driven by ignorance. It’s a misperception of what life drawing is. There’s this paranoia about safeguarding about being called out because you’re not doing enough. But this isn’t something that needs to be dealt with.”

Describing the drawing room as a “calm and meditative” atmosphere, Ms Bunting said the group was particularly good at presenting a range of different body types, which “not all do”.

She said: “Even as a person drawing, you can pick up body acceptance because you see different bodies in front of you.”

Adrian Gillan, who has worked as a life model for 25 years everywhere from pubs to Buckingham Palace, called the move a “great shame”.

“I think there is a danger of being too cautious, but I can understand some people would put their foot down and say ‘this involves young people and you can’t be too cautious,’” he said.

“But that group has run very successfully for all those decades. Has there ever been any issues in the past? None that I know of for sure. I know loads of models who would work in that space, you’d hear pretty soon if there were any issues.”

“Most organisations that work directly with young people, certainly when the model is fully naked but even if they’re not fully naked, you would have to have a DBS check which is pretty standard.”

Anne Noble Partridge, who has taught life drawing for over 20 years and runs London Life Drawing, said the decision “feeds into this quite strong societal stigma about nudity and demonises what’s happening in that room. Not only in regard to the model, but the people coming to draw.”

open image in gallery

“It’s an amazing opportunity for human connection, body positivity, building a community, mindful activity and really healthy observations about the body,” she added.

“The naked body can be a lot of things and not just something sexual. It’s a holistic tool that can be used for education in so many positive ways.”

She called the life room “a safe space”, but commented that it did have its own set of safeguarding concerns which the life drawing community were reckoning with.

“The life drawing community is generally unregulated. Anyone can set up a life drawing class, you don’t need a qualification or any sort of training. Pay is really important, models need to be paid for what they’re doing, they need to feel safe in the space. It needs to be private, so people being able to walk through or see into the room would be difficult.”

She concluded: “If people took part in a life drawing class, they’d come out feeling energised, positive and life affirmed rather than anything to do with fear.”

The Hampstead Community Centre said in a statement: “There was certainly no prudishness involved – the trustees are very comfortable with nudity in the correct context.

“The Hampstead Community Centre has successfully hosted Life Drawing Classes for several decades in the evenings with wide support from the local artistic community and we look forward to continuing to do so in the future.

“We are of course sorry that we were unable to accommodate the hirer’s requests on this particular occasion but we were pleased to hear that he was able to secure an alternative venue without there being any disruption to the weekly class that he continues to operate.”