LONDON—In the hopes of inspiring a return to traditional painting and drawing, British artist Alan Kane has created a new art show to air on the U.K.'s Channel 4. The subject? Life drawing from nude models.

The program, tentatively titled Life Class: Today's Nude, will air in five segments on consecutive days in July. Featuring nude models, it will invite viewers to sketch along at home while an art expert located in the corner of the screen offers tips.

Although his work is largely conceptual, Kane says that life drawing inspired him to become an artist, and he laments its decline in recent years. "It has definitely come off the agenda at art school," he said, rapidly being replaced by digital and computer-based art.

The program has some in Britain scoffing. John Beyer, director of broadcasting standards group Mediawatch-UK, said that Channel 4 has "an obsession with sex and nudity." But John Whittingdale, Conservative chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said the show would be acceptable as long as it provided an "educational context" and avoided "gratuitous titillation."