Paris Life Models Protest Naked (PHOTOS, NSFW)

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The Guardian is reporting that life models in Paris are so angry they are not getting the respect they deserve, they went on strike -- naked.

Paris is now being accused of showing such philistine ingratitude to its life models that scores went on strike yesterday, taking to the streets to pose naked in freezing temperatures to shame the state.

In front of the tastefully decorated Christmas trees outside Paris city hall's culture department, the naked and goose-pimpled models demanded a pay increase, proper contracts and, most of all, respect for their craft as they held trade union banners in the pose of Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People.

The disrespect shown to the models was "proof that something is badly wrong with French society", shouted one shivering male model through a megaphone. Artists, students and art teachers sat sketching them in support.

ANI reports that the protest started because life models were angry they were suddenly denied their tips.

The protest had started after Paris city hall, which runs an array of life-drawing classes, banned the tradition of the "cornet", which is a piece of art paper rolled into a cone and passed round for tips as a model gets dressed after class.

The models, who have to survive on a minimum wage with no fixed contracts, holiday pay, security cover or job security, said the tips allowed them to survive.

Times of London writer Charles Bremner has written in his blog that the Deputy Mayor in charge of culture has been sympathetic to the demonstrators.

Chrisophe Girard, Deputy-Mayor in charge of culture, was sympathetic to the demonstrators, who put their clothes back on to talk to him. The city banned the tips because students were complaining and because it's against French law to tip public servants, which is what the models technically are. Girard was nevertheless sympathetic to their cause and promised to seek a ruling from Christine Albanel, the Culture Minister, on a statute for them. The Deputy Mayor was himself once a model. He posed for pocket money when he was an art student in Angers.

Photos courtesy of the Associated Press

Comments

[roblabrousse]

It is good to see that the freedom of the human spirit is alive somewhere in the world. Paris is a center for art. It has been for centuries. I lived there several years as a student. The wealth of classes and open drawing studios is fantastic. Models of this nature are essential for artists to develop their skills and talent. They take their profession seriously. They will sustain poses that are even painful sometimes to allow the artists/art students the opportunity to create their images. It is only an ignorant or unsophisticated person who misunderstands the idea of the nude model. Or it is the immature schoolboy who mocks the nude state of another human. These people provide a service that is integral to much of the art we enjoy where a nude or dressed figure is scene. So get out of your narrow comfort zone and appreciate something you don't understand.

[Big Frog]

Good luck to the models! Go to www.lifeart.org to discover more about the world of life modeling.

[1will]

The Huffpost obviously needs to keep us abreast of this story.

[kingmiller]

Now that's a protest I can get behind!

[Bystander]

When you can't make a cogent argument or do something that effectively promotes the ends desired (whether legitimate or not), then protest naked. To make matters worse, you'll be confused with a loopy PETA protest.

[JeepRover]

HOORAH FOR BOOBIES!!! (I love that album, too)

[LeBeau59741]

I've posed for art classes and trust me, it's more difficult than simply dropping your laundry and standing around. It is a demanding piece of work that does in fact, demand respect and my sympathies are entirely with the models who endure sweltering heat or chilling cold in often drafty, dusty studios while holding a pose for anywhere from five minutes to an hour at a time.

If you doubt that it's physically demanding, stand up, place your left foot on your chair, your left hand on that knee, lay the fingertips of your right hand just below your right earlobe and tilt your head a little to the left, as if you were applying perfume.... now freeze... stay there for 5 full minutes... now imagine doing that for 20 minutes, naked, in a badly heated room where the temperature is about 50 degrees.

[LeBeau59741]

By the way, because it involves hands at rest, not outstretched and a reasonably comfortable "lean", that would be considered a very easy pose.

[Swerinjer2]

get that out of my face

[wrenchdevil]

..if you don't want to see it, then don't look, it's as simple as that..

[ECBA88]

The life models are public servants? I wonder what it would be like if the US government tried to pay people to pose naked.

[johnnygoodwud]

looks like it's a bit nippie out

[ElBruce]

They look pretty cold.

[todayslies]

What, no bush?

[curiousasheck]

Gross

[luke150]

What exactly is gross? The human body? I hope you are not disgusted by yourself so much.

On another note, some of these bodies don't look to me like models...

[thirtyninesteps]

What does this have to do John Edwards?

[johnnygoodwud]

is that a tattoo on 'pink earmuff lady' or just a giant stray hair?