In August, art students at Damascus University studying in four departments—sculpture, painting, engraving, and printmaking—were told that a decades-old rule prohibiting the use of nude models would now be strictly enforced. The penalty: a zero out of 100 failing grade.
Fouad Dahdouh, the fine arts dean and a professor at the university since 1993, issued the directive, explaining that “graduation projects must conform to ethical and societal values.” The ban on nude models at the university dates back to 1974, but the strict enforcement is new.
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As the National reports, the policy has generated vigorous debate in Syria, where it has been viewed as a political move.
Damascus University art students immediately pushed back against the ban. A statement issued by a university student group referred to the announcement as “a clear violation of academic freedom, an infringement on the independence of curricula, and a distortion of the structure of the educational process itself.” The statement goes on the explain the importance of figure drawing skills to artists-in-training. “From Renaissance academies to contemporary art schools, drawing the nude has been the cornerstone of artists’ education, as it combines technical difficulty with expressive depth.”
The student movement statement ends with a demand that the Syrian Ministry of Educations affirm its commitment to academic freedom and calls for a peaceful protest later that month.
The National article pointed out the hypocrisy in Dahdouh’s announcement. Dahdouh, a practicing artist, has made several artworks depicting nude figures. Litehouse Gallery, a London space dedicated to promoting contemporary Syrian artists, organized an online exhibition called “Erotica” which brings “together different styles and techniques drawing from numerous art movements to produce work that is current while simultaneously building on classical traditions of the nude.”
Dahdouh has two works on paper in the show. Both depict seated nude women.