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''The Perfect Moment'' was the most comprehensive retrospective of works by New York photographer
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...
. The show spanned twenty-five years of his career, featuring
celebrity portraits,
self-portrait
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...
s,
interracial
Interracial topics include:
* Interracial marriage, marriage between two people of different races
** Interracial marriage in the United States
*** 2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident
* Interracial adoption, placing a child of one raci ...
figure studies, floral still lifes,
homoerotic
Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
images, and collages. The exhibition, organized by
Janet Kardon
Janet may refer to:
Names
* Janet (given name)
* Janet (French singer) (1939–2011)
Surname
* Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table
* Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...
of the
Institute of Contemporary Arts in Philadelphia, opened in the winter of 1988 just months before Mapplethorpe's death from
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
complications on March 9, 1989. On tour, in the summer of 1989, the exhibition became the centerpiece of a controversy concerning federal funding of the arts and censorship.
Exhibition
Background
''The Perfect Moment'' covered all aspects of the photographer's career from the late 1960s to 1988. The traveling exhibition had been scheduled to appear at five other museums in various regions of the country during the next year and a half. It included more than 150 images. Despite the controversial character of some of the
photograph
A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...
s, critical response was enthusiastic and attendance was robust throughout the show's
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
run (from December 1988 through January 1989).
''The Perfect Moment'' traveled to the
Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Again, it generated no unfavorable public or critical attention. In June 1989, after the cancellation of the exhibition by the
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.
Overview
The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...
in
Washington D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
, two and a half weeks before it was to open there, ''The Perfect Moment'' unexpectedly provoked national controversy and ICA became a key player in the congressional debate over what public funds should and should not fund. The issues of censorship and artistic freedom that the show raised occupied the forefront of the debates between conservatives and liberals during the
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
era and in its aftermath. Members of the religious right, especially, criticized academics and artists for what they regarded as their indecent, subversive and blasphemous works.
Layout and works displayed
''The Perfect Moment'' grouped photos into three categories:
*Rigorously conceived portraits and figure studies;
*Dramatically lit flower arrangements in color, and in black and white;
*Photographs of gay
sadomasochism
Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...
(S&M) that left nothing to the imagination.
Robert Mapplethorpe's XYZ portfolios, explored three subjects: homosexual
sadomasochism
Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...
(X); flower still lifes (Y); and nude portraits of
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
men (Z). The extremely graphic S&M photos from Mapplethorpe's X Portfolio were displayed in a separate, age-restricted area at each venue of the exhibition. The portfolios were displayed with a series of poems by poet and singer
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946)
is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album '' Horses''.
Called the "punk poe ...
. The poems echo Mapplethorpe's X,Y,Z trope.
The images that sparked the most controversy include:
*Jim and Tom, Sausalito, 1977
*Man in a Polyester Suit, 1980
*Jesse McBride, 1976
*Rosie (Honey), 1976
Rosie, a black and white portrait of a very young girl crouched down on a bench outdoors with part of her dress lifted, exposing her genitals, generated controversy because of the subject's age and the issue of consent. This photograph was deemed
child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
by Mapplethorpe's detractors, and it is surprising that it was featured in the exhibition catalogue, considering that the printer had refused to print it for the Mapplethorpe retrospective at the
Whitney Museum of Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...
in 1988. There was one other photograph of a naked child, "Jesse McBride" which also contributed to the controversy created by "Rosie".
A 55-minute videotape of a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
interview with the photographer accompanied the exhibition.
Reception
The art critics in Philadelphia, the show's first venue, critiqued Mapplethorpe's work along formalist lines, without commenting on the provocative content of the X portfolio photographs. Overall, the exhibition was met enthusiastically by critics both Philadelphia and in Chicago, where the show appeared at the
Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to:
Africa
* Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi
Asia East Asia
* Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...
.
However, a campaign launched by the
American Family Association
The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. , a conservative watchdog group, to censor what they considered "indecent" art changed the climate of reception. On June 12, 1989
Christina Orr-Cahall, the director of the
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.
Overview
The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...
, cancelled ''The Perfect Moment'', which was scheduled to open there on June 30. Orr-Cahall feared that ''The Perfect Moment'' would endanger
NEA appropriations in the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
.
The exhibition set off one of the fiercest episodes of America's "
culture war
A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...
s" — and sparked a recurring debate about state-funded cultural production and the support of sexually explicit or
sacrilegious
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
art by public funds.
Debate about National Endowment for the Arts
The canceling of the ''Perfect Moment'' provoked a
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
battle about national funding for the arts that was front-page news for the next year.
On June 30, 1989, protesters angered by the cancellation of the show by the Corcoran Gallery projected slides of Mapplethorpe's photographs on the facade of the museum. 700 people rallied to express their outrage about the Corcoran's decision.
Michael Brenson, art critic for the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' wrote, “This exhibit should be seen. It is extremely unfortunate that the Corcoran Gallery of Art canceled it last month in the hope of averting a political outcry. As much as he has been made out to be a renegade and outlaw, Mapplethorpe is an utterly mainstream artist. He loved freshness and glamor and was obsessed with the moment, which his photographs always reflect. In his restricted spaces and his feeling for abstraction and attentiveness to every shape, edge and texture, Mapplethorpe is a child of the Formalism of the 1960s."
The Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) stepped in to host the show, and on July 22, 1989, ''The Perfect Moment'' opened at this alternative art space. No incidents marred the show's run at the Washington Project for the Arts.
However, Senator
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ...
introduced legislation that would stop the NEA from funding artwork considered "obscene". The legislation subsequently required any recipients of NEA funds to sign an oath that declared they would not promote obscenity. The oath provoked protests from artists and arts organizations. During the next grant cycle, in this climate of fear, applications for support equaling hundreds of thousands of dollars were rejected. Outraged artists filed lawsuits against the agency. A compromise was reached in Congress. Although the radically restrictive Helms amendment did not pass, restrictions were placed on NEA funding procedures.
Censorship
In March 1990, anti-pornography advocates in
Cincinnati Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, the
Citizens for Community Values
Citizens for Community Values (CCV) is a lobbying organization focused upon implementing conservative Christian sexual morality in public policy. It operates primarily in the US state of Ohio and is the Family Policy Council (a Focus on the Fami ...
, launched a campaign to pressure the
Contemporary Arts Center
The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is a contemporary art museum in Cincinnati, Ohio and one of the first contemporary art institutions in the United States. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in painting, sculptur ...
(CAC) to cancel ''The Perfect Moment''. Cincinnati law enforcement ordered 400 visitors from the museum to leave while they videotaped Mapplethorpe's photographs as evidence to support obscenity charges brought against
Dennis Barrie, the director of the CAC, and against the CAC. This was the first time a museum in the United States faced prosecution for the art it displayed.
On October 5, 1990, Barrie and the CAC were acquitted in the obscenity case. The prosecution failed to convince the jury that Mapplethorpe's photographs lacked
artistic merit
Artistic merit is the artistic quality or value of any given work of art, music, film, literature, sculpture or painting.
Obscenity and literary merit
The 1921 US trial of James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' concerned the publication of the ''Nausi ...
. In Cincinnati, more than 80,000 people saw the show. The censorship proceedings doubtless brought more attention to Mapplethorpe's work than it would have otherwise received.
Legacy
Since the CAC debacle, images from ''The Perfect Moment'', including the X, Y, and Z portfolios, have circulated to in hundreds of exhibitions internationally. Mapplethorpe's work is currently represented by 12 galleries worldwide, with the largest collections of his works at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (
LACMA
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum).
LACMA was founded in 1961, ...
) and the
J. Paul Getty Trust
The J. Paul Getty Trust is the world's wealthiest art institution, with an estimated endowment of US$7.7 billion in 2020. Based in Los Angeles, California, it operates the J. Paul Getty Museum, which has two locations—the Getty Center in the ...
.
These photographs and history of their attempted censorship during the 1990s have influenced artists, inspired
LGBTQ
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
advocates, and generated much scholarship.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perfect Moment
Art exhibitions in the United States
Censorship in the arts
Controversies in the United States
Obscenity controversies in photography
LGBT art in the United States