The fourth group of commonly censored artwork is art which depicts sex and nudity. A nineteenth-century case of censorship due to nudity took place at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Charles Peale, one of the Academy's founders, fought “a running battle with local prudery” because of the nudity of classic sculptures (Clapp 106). About a year later when plaster casts of famous nude statues arrived from the Louvre, the Academy set Monday as a “ladies only” day in which the “indecent statues” were draped in cloth (107). The Society of Artists in Philadelphia condemned the exhibition as “extremely indecorous and altogether inconsistent with the purity of republican morals” (107). A specific group of people can be prevented from viewing obscene material. This response shows how specific groups, such as women, were excluded from viewing controversial material.
David Wojnarowicz's Sex Series (Appendix 4.1) represents a modern example of artwork censored due to its depiction of nudity and homoerotic art. Like Mapplethorpe, Wojnarowicz used his artwork to increase AIDS awareness. Sex Series are several photographs that “contain small circular insets with scenes of homosexual and heterosexual lovemaking, images of technology, military action, money, and blood cells. These are situated within larger images of travel, nature, and domesticity, the whole of which Wojnarowicz printed in the photographic negative” (Spooner 350). In response to this artwork, the American Family Association (AFA) attacked Wojnarowicz and the NEA for “supporting pornographic, anti-Christian works of art” (344). In Wojnarowicz's defense, although the Sex Series “does use pornographic images, that does not make them pornography, since their intended context is one of emotional and intellectual, not primarily sexual, stimulation” (348-349). There is a thin line between the distinction of art and pornography. Artists, such as Wojnarowicz, test these boundaries to expand our perception of art.
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KaleidoscopeArt Behind Closed Doors
David Wojnarowicz's Sex Series (Appendix 4.1) represents a modern example of artwork censored due to its depiction of nudity and homoerotic art. Like Mapplethorpe, Wojnarowicz used his artwork to increase AIDS awareness. Sex Series are several photographs that “contain small circular insets with scenes of homosexual and heterosexual lovemaking, images of technology, military action, money, and blood cells. These are situated within larger images of travel, nature, and domesticity, the whole of which Wojnarowicz printed in the photographic negative” (Spooner 350). In response to this artwork, the American Family Association (AFA) attacked Wojnarowicz and the NEA for “supporting pornographic, anti-Christian works of art” (344). In Wojnarowicz's defense, although the Sex Series “does use pornographic images, that does not make them pornography, since their intended context is one of emotional and intellectual, not primarily sexual, stimulation” (348-349). There is a thin line between the distinction of art and pornography. Artists, such as Wojnarowicz, test these boundaries to expand our perception of art.
Read full article here.
KaleidoscopeArt Behind Closed Doors
