Nudes, untitled

Disrobing in front of strangers, lying to friends and family, not being able to celebrate the excitement of being immortalised by art. It’s just another day at work for Mumbai’s nude models, finds Labonita Ghosh

“I can take one look at a student’s painting and immediately know whether he will fail or pass,” says Arai Shankar Naidu, a sprightly grandmother-of-two. That’s also how most alumni of the JJ School of Art remember her: Unofficial grader and part-time friend, and full time nude model. “During breaks between sittings, students ask what I think of the painting they’ve done of me,” says the 55-year-old who, with her keen, deep-set eyes and stern hairdo, could pass off as a teacher. “Sometimes I let them down gently, saying they’ll get better by their fourth year.” After modelling for batches of students for almost 30 years, this unlettered immigrant from Tamil Nadu has developed a discerning eye for good work. She’s also been immortalised — in the hallowed halls of the JJ School — with at least three paintings and several sculptures. But she can’t share this with anyone back home. In the Vashi Naka rehabilitation colony where Arai lives, six people to a room, she is just a sweeper at the college. “What would my neighbours say if they knew that I sit naked for hours in front of people young enough to be my grandchildren?” Arai says, hands flying to her face in genuine horror.

It’s hard to believe that after all these years, Arai’s friends and neighbours don’t know what she actually does. They never confront her, probably out of deference. Or gratitude, because Arai has turned nude modelling into something of a cottage industry in her housing project. Introduced to it by her older sister Rashmi, who got her first assignment quite by chance, she has now initiated half a dozen other women into the profession, and saved whole families from starvation. “Only people who I know will not snitch,” says Arai. Her nieces Shanti, Saraswati and Kiran, her daughter Rani, associates Amol, Punita, Dhanalaxmi and some of their kin, have all found work as sitters at the city’s various art schools. For most of them the pay — a measly Rs160 for five hours of work as a nude, and Rs100 for being semi-clothed — a way out of an abusive marriage or the uncertainty of living off the streets. Now it pays the rent for their rabbit warren-housing.

Many of the younger girls have, however, dropped out. “They’ve got married or gone away,” says Punita Naidu, a slim, bright-eyed 29-year-old. “We can’t expect them all to lie to their families, the way we do. Besides, nude modelling is okay for me, but not for my five daughters.” Clearly, there is still some part of Punita that thinks of her work as something not quite respectable; and talking to her about famous artists who found their muse in models barely convinces her.

“But it’s like working in an office,” Arai chides her. And then adds: “I had a wonderful relationship with the ‘Sirs’ and the students. In the beginning, no one spoke to me. But once they opened up, the kids came to me with their girlfriend problems, low marks, griping about professors. They would call me ‘Amma’, and tease me, while I ticked them off for being distracted with thoughts of pretty girls.” Despite attending hundreds of sessions, both Punita and Arai remember many of the classes. How do they remember? “Well, now it’s only the three of us left,” says Punita, referring to Arai, Dhanalaxmi and herself, “so it’s not hard.”

Something art schools are acutely aware of. Nude studies classes, considered the most basic training for art students, is now being conducted from books because models are hard to come by. “We used to have nude studies years ago, but now we can’t find models so we use books,” says Madhuri Naik, head of the department of fine arts at Sophia Polytechnic. “Sometimes, the students model for each other, wearing skin-tight clothes.” But Arai and her colleagues, despite getting on in years, are still in great demand. “We would love to have younger, better-built models, but young women don’t want to volunteer these days,” says professor Srishail Shintare, of the sculpture department at JJ School. And male models are not a substitute because “the figure might ‘change’ even while we’re sketching, so men need to wear tights”.

Ironically, for a poorly-paid job, new avenues for nude modelling are opening up. At least two of the best-known animation institutes — the department at Whistling Woods International (WWI) and the Industrial Design Centre at IIT Powai — have been seeking nude models, but in vain. “Anatomy is a very important subject in animation,” says Gokul K, head of the art and technique of animation department at WWI. “Students have to learn everything about the human form before they can get the animation right. We would prefer nude models to sit for us, but have had to make do with semi-clothed people.”

When sculptor Tushar Joag was teaching at an animation institute in Kandivli, he put the word out for nude models, but couldn’t find any. “We have software that helps us animate, but you need a human for life-like movements,” he says. “You need a three-dimensional subject to view from all sides.” When told about this new opportunity, Arai and her co-workers are intrigued. They have all kinds of questions about pay, the frequency of work and the medium. Then Arai delivers the clincher: “Is it really art? Otherwise I’m not interested.”
 
l_ghosh@dnaindia.net