Many conservatives have bought into this common notion that, while pornography is immoral, nudity in high art is permissible. Often, these arguments tie into the concept that truth, beauty, and goodness are interconnected. Because art conveys truth and beauty, it must also be good, even when it contains nudity.

Or so the narrative goes.

In What is Art?, Leo Tolstoy presents an alternative view. He addresses the common assumptions about nudity in art by questioning the truth, beauty, and goodness framework.

Is Art Good because it is True and Beautiful?
Tolstoy dismantles the Western assumption that truth, beauty, and goodness are inherently interconnected, an idea that stems from ancient Greek philosophy. Why, he asks, do we so willingly accept ideas about morality from the ancient Greeks? As he points out, they were far from a moral people.

Before we accuse Tolstoy of committing the genetic fallacy, it’s worth considering the pitfalls of conflating the three. In The Great Good Thing, Andrew Klavan remarks how humans often confuse symbols with the things they symbolize. For example, we love the actors because of the characters they portray and are tantalized by sex rather than the love it embodies. Likewise, beauty isn’t intrinsically good, but can be a symbol for goodness.

This is important to remember when evaluating art. Too often, we make the mistake of thinking that because an artwork is beautiful, it must therefore be good. Goodness naturally creates beauty, but not all beautiful things are good by default. Beauty can be imitated and used for evil as well as good. //

Tolstoy notes that the naked body is “precisely what one never sees and what a man occupied with real art hardly ever has to portray.” Even if art’s purpose is to imitate life, it is peculiar how overrepresented nudity is. There is more bare skin in a single art exhibit than most normal people will ever see in a lifetime. //

I’m not suggesting we take a sledgehammer to Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s masterpieces or erase every living memory of them off the internet. However, as we create art, we need to reevaluate our long-held ideas and assumptions. The fact that celebrated works from the past contain nudity doesn’t justify us including it in our films, literature, and other mediums. It’s time to reassess giving art a free pass just because it’s art.