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Center. The nerves include racism, pornogra­
phy, the need to control society, fear of
sexuality, censorship of the arts and “a great
lhe Contemporary Arts Center in Cincin- deal of homophobia, that can’t be disputed,”
. nati and Director Dennis Bamc pleaded says Banister.
not guilty last month to a Hamilton County,
This is not the first time Mapplethorpe’s
Ohio grand jury indictment of pandering,
photographs have stirred controversy. Last *
obscenity and illegal use of a minor in nudity
summer, the show’s “X Portfolio” sparked
oriented material.
debate in Congress over federal funding of art
The charges stem from a photographic
exhibitions. Senator Jesse Helms and
retrospective, in particular from seven
Congressman Richard Armey led the fight to
photographs from a nationally touring show.
demand a standard of “decency” for govern­
The Perfect Moment. The artist—Robert
ment sponsored art programs, especially
Mapplethorpe, America’s best known gay
programs funded through the National
photographer.
for the Arts.
The allegedly obscene material comes from Endowment
At that time, Washington’s Corcoran
the “X Portfolio,” a dozen homoerotic sexual
Gallery of Art cancelled the show rather than
pictures. The photographs depict fisting,
be caught in the crossfire between Congress
inserting a finger into a penis, inserting a
and the National Endowment for the Arts.
cylinder into a rectum, a self-portrait of the
Instead, a privately funded gallery, the
artist with a whip handle in his rectum, and
Washington Project for the Arts, courageously
one man urinating on another. The photo­
the show and drew record attendance.
graphs showing alleged illegal use of a minor mounted
Controversy has also been good for
business in Cincinnati. Each day between
2,000 and 3,000 visitors—twice the usual
number pay to see the show. In fact, every
museum that has hosted the Mapplethorpe
show, including Chicago’s Museum of
Contemporary Arts, has also attracted record
crowds.
Many people do double takes when they
see the sex pictures. “At first it was shock­
ing,” said a design student who saw the show
in Chicago. “Then you see the beauty of the
forms. These photographs made me shift back
and forth between subject matter and composi­
are candid portraits of a partially dressed
tion.”
young child.
To be legally obscene, the U.S. Supreme
These photographs are only a small part of Court has ruled a work must fit three criteria:
the 175 black-and-white and color photographs does the work lack artistic, literary, political or
that document all phases of Mapplethorpe’s
scientific merit; does it offend contemporary
art—portraits, fashion, flowers, nudes,
community standards, and does it appeal to
homoerotic, and explicit homosexual-sado­
prurient interests.
masochistic sex.
If not pornography, then what did the artist
The indictments were the latest move in a intend? Mapplethorpe, who died of AIDS last
four way political wrestling match between the March, seldom explained his art. But a widely
Arts Center, the Citizens for Community
reported story, retold in the Whitney cata­
Values—an antipomography group—and the
logue, goes like this: “I would see a young kid
Cincinnati and Hamilton County prosecutors’ walking down 42nd Street and then go into a
offices. After a letter writing campaign by the magazine storefront, which were places I
Citizens for Community Values and rumors
didn't know anything about I became
that the police would raid the show, the Arts
obsessed with going into them and seeing what
Center filed suit with the city and county to
was inside these magazines. They were all
determine by jury if the photographs were
sealed, which made them even sexier some­
obscene.
how, because you couldn’t get at them. A kid
The suit was dismissed; but on April 7,
gets a certain kind of reaction, which of course
Cincinnati police closed the museum to the
once you’ve been exposed to everything you
public and videotaped the show, presumably as don’t get I got that feeling in my stomach, it’s
evidence of obscenity. However, no photo­
not directly a sexual one, it’s something more
graphs were confiscated. An injunction by
potent than that. I thought if I could somehow
U.S. District Judge Carl Rubin prevents the
bring that element into art, if I could somehow
city or county from seizing photographs or
retain that feeling, I would be doing something
harassing museum patrons.
that was uniquely my own.”
This controversy unfolds in a city that,
Undeniably the content of some of
with pride, claims to be free of adult book
Mapplethorpe’s photographs makes people
stores, peep shows and X-rated video rentals.
uncomfortable. According to Philip Brook-
Says a local art patron, “If you knew Cincin­
man, curator and director of the Washington
nati like I know Cincinnati, this is a ‘clean’
Project for the Arts, “Mapplethorpe’s art
city.”
confronts people in the mainstream with issues
This show has touched on every nerve
that they’re afraid of, black men and
that’s conceivable,” says Amy Banister,
homosexuality.”
Director of Communications at the Arts
T
B Y J E F F E R Y
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Z U R L I N D E N