Introduction to Art History - 101 (closed)

[LeonGreybeard]

Professor Roberts sighed as he entered the classroom. Apparently he had slighted the dean in some way and as punishment was given the task of teaching the history of art to sophomores, mostly engineering students who had elected it as their one humanities course for the year, also a few maths and science students and a sprinkling from other faculties. All anyone of them wanted, he expected, was a humanities credit. Any interest in art was probably peripheral.

Well, he had a surprise for them, this course would focus on representations of the female form. That should guarantee the interests of the male engineering students, he would add a few male nudes to avoid the sexist accusations from the females in engineering.

Taking the remote in hand, he put up a slide with his name, office, email, and cell number. "Good day, I am Professor Roberts, and this course is an introduction to the history of art. I will do my best to make it interesting for you, please do your best to approach this with an open mind. First of all, here is the course outline."

A blurred rapidfire sequence of slides followed, none lasted long enough for a complete image to be seen, but everyone saw lots and lots of paintings and sculptures of naked men and women. A few like 'David' were easlily recognized, but most flashed by.

Then he returned to the first slide.

http://www.uvm.edu/~iwd/images08/venuswillindorflarge.jpg

"Venus of Willendorf. Not quite our current meme of feminine puchritude, but in her day . . . "

"So let's examine this image . . " He went on to describe various aspects of the sculpture, where it was found, what is known about it, the usual things.

"Your first assignment is simple, write a few words about how that image made you feel when you first saw it. You will not be judged on the size of your submission, but on its originality. I assure you I am well familiar with all the traditional discussions of this image. To get good grades here you must show originality. Not cleverness, not astuteness, originality. I want a fresh view on this. Submit them to my email."

"Thank you for your attention."

Roberts busied himself disconnecting his tablet from the WIFI.

 

[slut_in_white]

Eve was late.

In fairness, it wasn't entirely her fault. She'd left her house this morning with plenty of time to spare - she was the sort of student who was usually at least 15 minutes early to most of her classes. The problem was that this was the first class she'd ever taken in the Arts quad, because she'd spent her entire first year in the science building, so she was a little unfamiliar with where she was going. And she'd accounted for that when she left early, but what she hadn't accounted for was that the entrance of the fine arts building would be closed for construction this morning, leaving her wandering around, looking for some other way in. She got herself thoroughly lost before she found, quite by accident, the hallway she was looking for.

She slipped into the class as silently as she could, thanking her lucky stars that she seemed to have missed very little.

The lecture itself consisted mostly of class introduction, which was to be expected, and then a short discussion of the Venus of Willendorf. But Eve was... distracted. By her professor, of all things.

She wasn't usually the sort of woman to find interest in men twice her age. Or maybe three times? It was very difficult to tell how old he was. 60 at the most, she'd guess, but he could have been as young as 40 - he bore a certain agelessness about his appearance that she found quite compelling. He was a fit man - broad chested, thin in the waist and hips, and she could see strength in the way he moved, not to mention the hint of musculature underneath his collared shirt. Perhaps that lent itself to his ageless look - older men were supposed to be rounded, short, and perhaps starting to hunch a little. Professor Roberts was none of these things, so while his eyes bore the wrinkles of a few laugh lines, and while his hair had taken on a salt-and-pepper tone that came with age, the fact that his head was still full of hair and he still looked as strong and healthy as a younger man made it hard to pinpoint how old he was.

Of course, the real problem here was that she spent most of class using the question of his age as an excuse to ogle him instead of paying attention. That wasn't like her - she was the sort of student who sat at the front of the class, paid attention, did her homework, and usually found something in the material to be passionate about, no matter how dry the material could be. She liked learning, and she had a particular passion for art and art history. She recognized the slight boredom in his tone as that of a man who knew the rest of her class didn't care in the slightest about the content he was presenting. But she did. And she would show him. She tried to pretend it was because she put forth this kind of effort into all her classes, and while that was strictly true, she knew here that she was going to do it because she wanted him to notice her.

Despite being quite lovely, Eve had always been very shy and badly underestimated her appearance. It never really would have occurred to her that her physical looks might have been enough to draw the attention of men. And so, she set about planning to get into his good graces with her mind, instead.

She did manage to pay enough attention to the lecture itself to catch the assignment, which she found rather interesting. Originality was key. The Venus of Willendorf had been discussed, over and over, among academics for decades. How would she find something unique to say among all of that?

Despite having homework from several other classes, she found herself thinking more and more about the Venus assignment until she finally allowed herself to abandon her chemistry work to start reading more about the statue online. What had she felt when she first saw it? Every time she looked at the statuette, she found herself drawn to it, but it was difficult to say why.

In the end, she spent several more hours pondering it than she had intended to, and sent Professor Roberts an email with her answer quite late that night.

Dear Professor Roberts,

This is my submission for the assignment given in FINE 101 today.

I find the Venus to be alluring while simultaneously incomprehensible. She appeals to the instinctual in me in a way I have difficulty fully articulating. Despite her opposition to almost everything we describe as classically attractive, there is something about the unabashed sexuality of the object that overcomes that and entices the viewer, even without the viewer fully understanding why.

- Eve

 

[LeonGreybeard]

Roberts flipped through the emails from the students, and scanned the responses. Each answer got a tic in the spreadsheet for the class. But one stood head and shoulders higher than the rest:

' . . . appeals to the instinctual in me in a way I have difficulty fully articulating . . .'

That took courage, to tell the prof you could not answer the question. But was exactly the whole point of the course. Art addresses ideas and thoughts we can not articulate, because they can not be articulated. That is what makes it art.

'Hmm, Eve White. I wonder who she is.

Ms. White, your response was unusually perceptive. I have a small grant fromn the McCloud foundation that allows me to have a part time research assistant, a few hours a week. I wonder if you would do me the honour of dropping into my office later in the afternoon of our next class. If that is inconventient, tell me when you might be available and we will try to schedule around it.

Then he copied that email without the first sentence, and sent it to two other students, both male as it happened.

"Welcome back, those of you who decided to continue this course. Everyone who gave me an email response for the last assignment got a one. Those who did not respond got a zero. At the end of term your mark will be the sum of the ones divided by the number of assignments, that quantity times one hundred. In my mind there is no right or wrong answer. But for your sake, make them honest answers. That is to your benefit. And as you can see now, there is nothing difficult about this course, yet I think it is probably in fact the most difficult course you will take."

Roberts scanned the students, trying to guess who Eve White might be. Females enrolled in engineering tended to be plain, to put it kindly. Yet sprinkled amongst them were a few that made an effort to be the execption to that rule. Sometimes the efforts fell on stony ground, but a few were really quite attractive. There was one woman in the class who had a natural beauty that shone through even unadorned, dressed neatly but practically.

Who amongst these was the perceptive one? He gave up trying to guess. It could be any of them. For that matter it might be a guy called Evelyn that went by Eve. Evelyn used to be a male name, maybe it was coming back as a male name. Or even non gender specific name.

http://uploads3.wikiart.org/images/pablo-picasso/nudes-and-bust-1933.jpg

"Alright class, now to jump forward to about 75 years ago. This image deserves a long look. See what is there, see what isn't there, and please tell me what you see, once again how it makes you feel. Two figures jump out at you, but what about the third?"

He then droned on a while about the basics of cubism, how it began and its acceptance at the time, and now.

"I realize the first two assingments addressed female nudes, but I will endevour to achieve gender parity. There is one overall undated assignment for you. Take a couple of hours from your busy days and visit one of the fine art galleries in the city. Try to just absorb. When you find something you particularly like, send me a short email about it. That assignment must be completed before end of term and is worth 25 marks. That is, if you do not do it, your overall mark will be out of 75."

"That is all for today, Thank you."

 

[slut_in_white]

Eve listened carefully to the topics covered next class, excited by the prospect of working with Professor Roberts. She'd never been picked out for something like this before. She was nervous, and, for some reason, she was terribly afraid he was going to test her on the content of today's class and she'd have to admit that she didn't always pay attention because she was too busy fantasizing about hearing that warm voice of his saying other things to her...

She shivered, a pleasant warmth roiling through her body, and realized class was ending. Gathering up her things, she slipped her books into her backpack and walked to the front of the class, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Hi, um, Professor? I'm Eve. I thought... I mean, I was wondering if you'd be willing to discuss that research assistant position?" The question came out soft and shy, and she dropped her gaze to her feet halfway through the question. She felt silly, like a little girl with a crush on her high school teacher. Maybe working as his assistant was a bad idea. Long hours spent alone with him in his office...

Did she really think she'd be able to resist that temptation?

 

[LeonGreybeard]

Well his question was answered, this insightful person, Evelyn, was indeed female. Roberts viewed her with the eye of an artist. Historian maybe but he dabbled.

She was somewhat pale, yet with a bit of a tan. She had a long dark pony-tail and blue eyes. She dressed . . stylishly but in no way provocative. She looked fit, perhaps a dancer's legs? But too tall surely for dance. The males that danced tended to be on the short side and she might be as tall as the shorter ones. He suspected pleasant curves, but they were in no way defined, the way she dressed,

Good Lord what was he thinking? In his mind he slapped himself. This is a student. You are her professor. A professor in a compulsory arts course. And she certainly has boyfriends, young bucks eager for her favours. This is about your research man, get a grip on yourself.

"Well Ms. White, I would like to interview you about the position. There are two other candidates I have yet to speak with also. If you could come to my office now, we can discuss the position, and you can tell me a bit about yourself, your interest in art history."

"I will say I found your reply to the first assignment very insightful, or at least in accordance with my thoughts about art, in general."

"Walk with me, we can talk on the way."

He packed his tablet in his messenger bag, and they walked across campus to the main fine arts building. It was a warm fall day, perhaps the last really warm day of the year. The colours had mostly faded from the trees. There was a slight chill in the air.

"So, tell me what your main field of study is Ms. White, and what attracted you to an art history course."

 

[slut_in_white]

Eve couldn't help the shy, pleased grin that made its way onto her face at his compliment about how insightful her first assignment was. She knew he thought that, since he'd said so in his email, but it was different hearing it in person. It meant more, somehow.

She fell into step next to him, smiling faintly at the feeling of the warm yet crisp autumn air on her skin. "I'm a chemistry major, actually. But I love art, I always have, so when the opportunity came up to take a class like this, I was really excited! I found the art education in high school to be a bit lacking. I mean, in the end, it ended up being like arts and crafts time for teens, instead of being taken seriously as a class. So I'm really excited to be in a class like yours, where the context is really dense."

She blushed when she realized what she was saying - what kind of student praised a teacher for making the content even more dense and difficult than she was used to? But at the same time, Eve was smart - gifted, the term was - and she'd always found it faintly frustrating that her classes in high school hadn't challenged her. They'd been so boring, which was why she'd been positively eating up the university experience since she started here. Finally, here was a place where her mind would be challenged! She loved it, even if she still felt that vague embarrassment that came of being a "nerd."

 

[LeonGreybeard]

"I should tell you more about my research. It concerns the intersections between art, erotica, and pornography. Where a particular creation falls is mostly dependent on culture. Of course skill at depiction is a factor too."

The campus was quiet as they walked the winding path under old oaks. She seemed very relaxed to him, and he was in fact happy to have some feminine company for a change. She had a softness about her that was very attractive. He found himself hoping the other candidates didn't measure up.

"So the research position at this stage of the project is to collect images to illustrate the discussion. Images that we might generally classify as erotica, of some skill in execution, but which some might consider fine art and others might consider pornography. I want a group of data to choose from. Now when you answered about the statuette, you mentioned that it said something you could not express in words. And that fits exactly into my personal view that art attempts to communicate something that cannot be expressed in words. And so I formed the opinion that you might be a good candidate for the position."

"Perhaps four hours a week, and one hour long meeting with me to review what you found in your searches. And that really summarizes the position."

"Is this something you would be interested in?"

 

[slut_in_white]

Oh. Oh crap. The professor she was very rapidly developing a powerful crush on was trying to hire her to look at erotica with him. That was... probably not the best idea. But oh god, so tempting...

She could try. Maybe the crush would go away after a little while. It was probably just a passing infatuation. She shouldn't give up such a good opportunity for extracurricular work because of a crush that'll probably be gone in a week or two, right? Besides, where else was she going to get a job that was so easy to get to, paid pretty well, and had few enough hours per week that it wouldn't interfere with her school work? It was the perfect job! The crush would go away eventually. And if not, she could handle it.

Or so she tried to convince herself.

"That sound quite interesting, professor. I would really look forward to doing something like this!" They were approaching his office, now, and he opened the door, holding it open for her to step inside. "Um. So how would you like to interview me? If you'd like, I could try a cursory search and see if you like what I find."

At his affirmative response, she took a seat on the small couch wedged into the room next to his desk and got out her laptop to begin searching. It didn't take her long to find a few works she found... compelling.

As she searched through the results, finding things that drew her attention in that indescribable way, she found her body warming, and her gaze kept flickering up to Prof Roberts as she wondered what his reaction might be to what she'd found. She discovered quickly that she was drawn in particular to photographs that drew on the tactile senses, at least for her.

A woman draped in silk. Eve imagined how it would feel, running her fingers along the smooth, warm skin and across the cooler silk. She imagined a silk cloth draped over her bare skin like that, brushing teasingly over her body.

Another woman, this one clothed, with a scrap of lace over her eyes. Despite the fact that the woman's body was strictly hidden, there was something unabashedly erotic about the implication of the blindfold, while simultaneously allowing the viewer to see the desire in her eyes.

Hands, groping at a pair of lush breasts. Clearly more obscene than the previous two, and yet, Eve would consider it to have the greatest claim to the term "art" - the aesthetics of the image are clear. Though, were she being honest with herself, she found it most compelling because she couldn't help but imagine Professor Robert's hands on her own breasts like that...

She gave her head a shake. That was not the way to be getting over this crush. Not remotely.

She sighed, getting ready to turn the computer around to show the professor what she'd found. But before she did, she had to make a decision. There was a fourth image, one which had drawn a scarlet blush to her face when she'd found it. One which had sent her mind off in wild directions the moment she'd laid eyes on it. It was also much more overtly pornographic than the rest, by a large margin. She hesitated. Should she show it to her teacher?

She decided, in the end, to simply leave it open in a tab on her computer. She wouldn't draw attention to it, but it wasn't hidden from him either. Whether he wanted to open it or not was up to him. "P-professor? I found some..." She placed her laptop down on his desk, her cheeks pink, and waited for him to take a look.

 

[LeonGreybeard]

Roberts took her laptop, and studied the images. Greyscale. The first, a partly nude woman was art, certainly, erotic in that she was partly nude, and posing in an alluring way. He was not sure it spoke to him in any non-verbal way. This could be an advatage to collaborating with a woman. Eve had chosen it, he was comfortable that she understood what he was trying to deal with, and so it must have non-verbal connotations for her. Sexual dimorphisim was to be expected after all. At that moment he began to hope that she would win the position.

The second, in colour, was clear to him. The blindfold that did not prevent her seeing had all sorts of connotations in current society. Erotic content was not strong, neither was the artistic content strong. But still a good choice.

The third was again greyscale. Mentally he dubbed it two breasts, four hands. Full of hidden meanings. No faces. Anonymity, full ripe breasts, groping hands. Suitors for her favours. Or taking liberties? Lots of innuendos.

At this point he knew he wanted to hire her, and regretted that he would have to make a sham of interviewing two other candidates, waiting and announcing his decision. One already made.

Then he saw the fourth tab and opened it. It struck him full in the chest. Lascivious, lewd, licentious art. It was the type image for his thesis. Raw pornography, yet clearly great art too. And such magnificent bodies.

Roberts stood up, and walked to the window, staring out at the campus, the students walking by. And thought. Analysed. Struggled. He wanted to hire her for certain. Not let her escape. Clearly she felt embarassed to show him that last photo. Yet she had. His cell buzzed on his desk, and hoping to distract himself to let his subconcious work on the problem at hand, checked it. There is was! Salvation! The other two candidates had left emails declining his offer citing the pressures of their full curriculum in engineering. A shame, they had potential. But! Now his path was clear, with these on record he could defend hiring her. One last test, and if she passed, the position was hers.

He smiled at her, and returned to her laptop, opened all four images and saved them to a thumb drive. Then popped the thumbdrive into his laptop after turning on his display screen, a 32 inch professional unit he had caged from the film special effects lab at the nearby college.

He rotated the screen to portrait mode, and displayed the last image she had chosen. Bound.

"This one is a very powerful image. We can not see their faces, the enviroment looks almost medical, stark, repeated almost symmetric patterns, but everything draws my eyes to her vulva, his penis and scrotal sac. It arouses, strongly, yet the art is powerful, and something else transmits but I have no hope of stating it in words."

"Please Ms. White, tell me your impressions of this photo, so I might make some notes of your perspective."

This was in fact a test, could she overcome her inhibitions and discuss such an image with him? If so she was perfect, better than he could have hoped for. And attractive too. That might prove a distraction for him, but he would rather that distraction than . . well better left unthought, and unsaid too. The PC police would have him dead.

 

[slut_in_white]

Eve winced a little when he opened the final image, wondering what he might think. She was so utterly unaccustomed to the idea of sharing such unabashedly obscene fantasies with anyone, never mind her professor...

He didn't say anything, at first. He simply stood and walked over to the window, thinking. She squirmed, wondering if he was judging her, if he was trying to come up with the right way to tell her that her choices were completely, utterly inappropriate for this sort of setting. Her eyes stayed fixed to his face as he picked up a message on his phone and then... he smiled at her. The knot of nerves in her chest began to finally unbind itself. And with it, a blush began to rise on her cheeks at the realization that he liked the images she'd chosen. She'd be looking at these kind of works with him
on a regular basis, from now on.

Her gaze flickered down to his hands as he placed the phone back down on the desk, and, for a moment, she imagined those strong fingers digging into the flesh of her hips the way the man's fingers were doing in that last photo. Oh dear.

He asked her to explain what drew her to the photo, and her blush deepened to crimson. He didn't seem to mind her embarrassment. It was to be expected, after all. But if she wanted this job - and she did, for the money and for the opportunity to spend more time with him - she'd need to get over that embarrassment.

Clearing her throat, she licked her lips and stared at the photo, trying to come up with words that actually meant something. She'd picked it almost entirely on intuition that it was the sort of thing he'd been looking for - conscious thought had barely even entered into the equation. She laughed nervously, rifling through her head for something to explain what she'd felt. Perhaps she should simply admit that that was the case. "I, um, I must admit, I picked it on the intuition that it was what you were looking for. I'm not entirely sure what it is about it that drew me to it. I think...." She paused, narrowing her eyes as she began to concentrate on the figures. "I think it's, in part, the position of the shot. It's unusual to photograph someone so that the image is so very intimate without showing their face. And I think I was drawn to the deliberateness of the setting. Or, I mean, what looks like deliberateness. Maybe it was a happy accident, but the choice of the room... I mean, like you said, it's so very clinical, such a stark contrast to the action, but I also keep finding the shape of the ceiling tiles interesting. At the angle, all the lines in the ceiling point to their genitalia. It keeps guiding my eyes back to that meeting point of their bodies."

 

[LeonGreybeard]

Roberts smiled, and to temporarily ease her discomfort, closed the image on the monitor.

"Yes, well what I really wanted was to see if you could discuss such things with me. I have no doubt as to your insight, given more time I am sure you would have quite a bit to say about that one. It is exactly in the line of what I am looking for."

He turned to his laptop and quickly printed out some forms.

"I am pleased to offer you the position. Here are a couple of forms to fill out, one is simply personal information, I know the university already knows all this, none the less if you become part of staff, even part time, they want it again. And there are some choices for how you want to be paid."

"And there are two forms by which you basically agree to hold the university and the foundation harmless regarding the contents of my work. Essentially you are saying you realize you will be discussing sexually explicit images with me, for the purposes of my research."

"You have no idea how difficult it was to get this project past the ethics board. And when I suggested an assistant the dean was apoplectic. But she finally relented, on the condition that my assistant sign these forms."

And he gave her the forms to look over and decide if she wanted to sign. And found himself studying her as she read. She had a surprising grace of movement, almost like a dancer. fine features. Shy, but open about the sexual images they had just looked over. For a few moments he wished he was much younger, get in line with all her other suitors. Slowly her pure physical presence started to dominate his thoughts. Since his wife had passed, now many years ago, he had never sought any female company. And suddenly he was aware of just how much he missed.

Roberts scanned his files on his laptop for a few moments, and added two to the thumb drive. A postcard like image and a temple frieze. He waited until she finished signing, and handed her the thumb drive.

"Here are two more images for you to work on. Let me know at our next meeting what you think of them. I think it would be best if we communicated images using this thumb drive, it is encrypted, the code is Chatterly. I am sure you know why I chose that."

"See you in class next week, and if this time is convenient for you we can meet here after class to discuss your work on the project."

 

[slut_in_white]

Eve blinked, surprised. She had been hoping for the job, but she certainly hadn't expected to get it so quickly, especially considering the fact that he'd mentioned that he was considering other candidates! She grinned. "Thank you, sir!" and set about filling out and signing the forms that he provided her.

She grinned at his quip about Chatterly and nodded. "Alright, I'll see you next week, professor!"

Her good mood stuck around the entire weekend. She couldn't stop grinning - and why should she? It was an incredible opportunity!

She studied the images over the weekend, carefully considering each. She found the postcard image more arousing, for obvious reasons, but found something about it more intellectually interesting, too. The freize was a beautiful work, but it lacked a certain eroticism. Certainly the figures were in erotic positions, but there was little about them otherwise that suggested arousal. The way they were shaped, the way they looked, they could have as easily been tilling a field or reading a book.

Armed with her thoughts on the matter, Eve arrived at Professor Roberts' office the following week, excited to begin. She knocked on the door, then pushed it open, peering inside. "Hi, Professor!"

 

[LeonGreybeard]

"Ah, Ms White, welcome. I have been looking forward to this visit all week. I am so happy you agreed to help. Today I though we could look at a Rodin She is rather heavy by today's standards, but we must remember that being well nourished was a positive thing, then. No hint of consumption or other illness. And well provided for too."

"The pose of course matches a comon meme in contemporary pornography. 'Easy access' if you will. I do not think any male could look at that and not imagine coitus. Well hetrosexual male in any event. But I wonder, what does a woman see or think when she studies this image. Is she repulsed? Aroused? Does she wonder who this is or why she is like that?"

"His incredible skill is apparent, her full soft breasts are suggested by only two main lines, and tiny arcs to mark her nipples. Yet as a man, I can almost feel them when I look at this. We can even tell her age and that she is not beautiful, but on the attractive side of plain featured."

"And, regrettably I have not found anything similar depicting a penis. The great artists we know are male by and large, and none seemed to have much interest except in females. I hope you can prove me wrong there. I'd like you to try and find an image of a man, that affects you sexually, as this image does to me. I want to try to be gender neutral when I publish this work. But it is difficult finding erotic images that are intended to, and in fact do, stimulate a woman's arousal. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places, or my ideas are wrong."

All the time he spoke he was studying her in his peripheral vision. Clearly she was not relaxed, and he could hardly expect that she would be. But she was determined to do it. And that encouraged him. Somehow today she looked prettier than he recalled. Almost a glow in her face. Probably has a lover, he thought.

 

[slut_in_white]

Eve was chewing her lip as she took in the picture Professor Roberts showed her. The lines were simple - she didn't expect it to have the kind of impact on her that it did, but she found it incredibly arousing.

Is she repulsed? Aroused? Does she wonder who this is or why she is like that?

"I... I find her arousing," Eve admitted softly, turning her face slightly away from the professor as the admission made her blush. "I think... I think it's the notion of imagining oneself in that position. Perhaps the taboo of displaying oneself in such a context. I mean, I suppose it would be different if she were in a private setting, if she were displaying herself like that to a man we could presume to be her lover, and not the audience. But she can't even see us - only we can see her. She presents herself to us like that having no idea who will be seeing her so exposed, or what their reaction might be. For the male viewer, I expect the draw, or at least part of the draw, is a sense of voyeurism. For the female viewer, I think perhaps part of the draw is that sense of partaking in exhibitionism."

Eve took her seat at the professor's urging and began to seek out erotic male nudes. She had much the same trouble he did - there were plenty of male nudes in art, but painfully view that were intended to be erotic in any way. More often, they were depicted in action. Not strictly unattractive, but not deliberately posed to draw arousal the way so many of the women were. The more she looked, the more she found, but, ironically, even the male nudes who were posed erotically were still intended for the male gaze - she was having an easier time finding works depicting homosexual acts than anything else.

Finally, she found a few that were to her satisfaction.

First, an erotic etching of a what appeared to be a woman with a faun or some other masculine, tailed creature. "I don't know if it could necessarily be considered something that would appropriately counter the Rodin's female figure, since there's a female figure in this one too, but the male figure is certainly erotic to a female viewer. The position, in particular, is what drew my attention."

The next was a simple painting of a fit young man. Eve blushed when she showed it to the professor, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "I um, don't actually like this one, personally. I just know that it's the sort of thing some of my female friends would love. I mean, he's not displaying his penis, but he's clearly posed for a female or homosexual male viewer. It could be either. I'd personally lean towards homosexual male. I don't really know why. I get the feeling the figure might be homosexual. And while I don't have any issue with homosexuality, I don't find homosexual men to be sexually appealing. It might just be because of their tendency to take on certain feminine characteristics while I prefer more masculine men. Or maybe it's just that I don't see the reason to pine after a man I very clearly cannot actually have. Still, just because it doesn't fit my preferences doesn't mean other women wouldn't enjoy it immensely."

Then she smiled, more anxious to show him the others. "I found some of what I think you're actually looking for, eventually. As it turns out, no matter how difficult it is to find art of nude men intended at least partially for a female viewer, there are many women on Pintrest and Tumblr who had dedicated themselves to collecting it!" She laughed. "Most of it is relatively recent, but I was actually quite pleased at the artistic quality of some of the works." She showed him a drawing of a man on red sheets, a John Curin painting of mutual masturbation, and a sketch of a lone man. She bit her lip, watching him flip through her choices. "What do you think?"

 

[LeonGreybeard]

"We can put these on the thumb drive. And now we have two images arousing to both males and females. your satyr has a particularly strong effect. I must ask your indugence a moment."

He then squirmed a little in his seat, hand in his pocket, turned away from her. He arranged it upright on his belly, as the engorgement was about to be obvious to her, at least this way it wouldn't poke out.

"There, that is better, when a woman becomes aroused, it is not so evident as it is with a man. I did not expect this to happen, but somehow that faun image seems to have had strong effect on me. Certainly it is easy to imagine oneself like that."

He squirmed again.

"Now back to the Rodin, unlike most depictions of that era, her vulva has no pubes. To me it is amazingly realistic, with so few lines. I am not sure if that is a giant phallus over it, or someone dropped moisture on the watercolour after it was completed. Either she is with her lover, or she is a courtesan. Rodin painted many courtesan images, and one rather horrid statue of an old courtesan. But the nice thing about art is that we can decide what the situation is, and I choose to think she is with her lover, and simply totally open about her sexuality. But I had no idea there was a fashion of shaving pubes then."

"As far as the other males go, I thank you for your research, and I ask you to write up in detail your thoughts about each. In fact as time goes on if you continue to provide so much input, I would ask you to be listed as a co-author on my paper. Considering your major and your likely career, perhaps under a pseudonym. That is entirely up to you."

She was looking down and away from him, blushing. He was burdened with an ever increasing and more difficult to hide erection. And becoming a little flustered. He put his hand on her shoulder, "This is difficult for me, and I suspect it is difficult for you, also. Should we take a break? Perhaps a short walk to clear our heads before returning to discuss the satyr or faun?" He let his hand continue to rest on her shoulder.