Actually Art?

I apologize for the following and you can stop now for time saving.  

              In a picture that is vary common in college dormitories there are two women kissing.  Appropriately the title of this peace is called “Kiss”.  Though the image is of a provocative nature I still contend that it, and others like it, are of the same intellectual value as, say, the “V–J day in Times Square”.  The photo though of a more tame nature than others I am putting in this category should still be on par with other works of the time period. 

              Firstly the picture is a black and white, with two women, one brunet and one dark blond, on a bed in white underwear.  The two models are embracing each other in a very loving fashion and are lip-locked with there eyes closed.  All the attention is in there faces and that’s were the eye drifts.  Evan though the models are working they seem to be vary comfortable and relaxed which helps the captured moment look more intimate.  The picture as a whole seems to bring out a feeling of sexuality.  Though the two subjects are female there short hair and slim futures do not suggest an extreme femininity but merely the relationship of two people in an intimate act. 

              Conversely the war photo has a very notable image.  The two subjects being of opposite genders make this picture more conventional.  With a New York background there is more for the eye to process but one finally rests on the two kissers.  In contrast the sailor is wearing dark clothing while the nurse is wearing a white uniform.  This takes the attention away from the faces, which are hidden, and brings it to the couple as a whole.  The two parties involved are in a more forceful kiss than the other picture, this seems to lessen the sexual nature and instead it has a more romantic feel. 

              The question that seems to come up is if a picture has a more evocative, provocative, or erotic nature than is it as good as a bowl of fruit?  I contend yes.  Though the pictures provide different reactions, they still have one and that is the point of art is it not?  Over the centuries there have been many styles of art and this modern version is simply a representation of our time, specifically our relationship with sex.  Though some people might have trouble dealing with this relationship there is one in all of us.  Over the past few decades the general populous has accepted a more liberal view on pornography.  This has caused some more extreme peaces to be labeled as art that in the past would not be seen as such. 

              Art in all its glory is a great representation of the prosperity of the culture.  From the Greek vases to the Indian religious figures there has always been an element of sex.  Through time how explicit the art has been has changed but it is has always there.  So therefore no matter how erotic an image can get there is still a possibility that it has an artistic value.