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16:22, 03-Jan-2018
US art teacher fired after showing classic nude paintings in class
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An art teacher has been sacked from a US elementary school after showing sixth-grade students postcards portraying classical paintings that feature nudity.
Mateo Rueda, an active artist and art teacher working for Lincoln Elementary School in Hyrum, Utah, handed out a box of educational postcards from the school library during an art lesson on December 4.
Unbeknownst to him, among the 100 cards featuring world-renowned paintings, four cards at most depicted nudity, the Herald Journal newspaper reported last week.
Postcards from the controversial art box. /Photo via Phaidon Store
Postcards from the controversial art box. /Photo via Phaidon Store
Rueda removed the cards after noticing that they made students uncomfortable. However, some parents learned about the incident from their children and reported the teacher to the police for "exposing students to nudity."
The art teacher was later placed on a one-day administrative leave by the school principal Jeni Buist, who was found shredding the postcards at the request of the school district when police visited the academic establishment.
A few days later, Rueda was contacted by the principal and notified about his job termination.
US art teacher Mateo Rueda. /Photo via Facebook
US art teacher Mateo Rueda. /Photo via Facebook
Rueda said he was wrongly dismissed. "This is not material at all that I would use. I had no idea,” he told the local paper. He added that the artwork boxes had been shelved at the school library before he began working there.
The two images seen by students were the Impressionist-era portrait “Iris Tree” by Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani and the Rococo-style partial nude “Odalisque” by 18th-century artist Francois Boucher, the teacher said.
Some other paintings included in the art box are Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.”
Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci's work also featured in the art box. /VCG Photo
Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci's work also featured in the art box. /VCG Photo
Police officers showed some of the images to local prosecutors who decided they were not pornography, Sheriff Chad Jenson said.
The local school district declined to comment, saying it is a personnel issue.
While some parents complained, others have shown support.
One parent Kamee Jensen wrote a letter to the Herald Journal defending Rueda and said her daughter wasn’t offended by the pictures.
“She was just very upset that her teacher was in trouble,” Jensen said.
(With input from AP)