Adrienne Barkley wrote:

>>Our latest exhibit has two paintings of nude figures and someone has
expressed > > deep concernabout this.  Rather than an enclosed gallery our
exhibit spaces > > >are glass enclosed cases built into the hallways so the
individual feels he
> > is subjected to things he does not want to see and does not have the
> > choice of avoiding.

You are wise,Adrienne, to anticipate and plan. To me this is a planning
issue. A small "maze" could be constructed from partitions/panels whereby
the nudes would be inset and not hanging out in full public view. At the
entry there could be a panel about the nude being integral to academic
artist training. There could be a photo of a 19th century classroom (I'm
thinking of the Pennsylvania Academy) with men and women students
drawing/painting from the nude model. If you want more explanation, you
could tell how art has always shocked the public before becoming mainstream.
Everyone knows and loves the Impressionists, but they turned the art world
on its ear in their early days. If I were the gallery director, I would
relish a little controversy--how better to educate the "little" ones. If
controversy did develop, I'd be ready with a press release that Olympia
strikes again , this time in Little town, USA. Where Manet had shocked his
fellow Parisians with his painting of a nude model boldly confronting her
viewer in the eye, how does the work of  your schools' art educators
compare? Are they like Bacon, Lucien Freud, Chuck Close, Alice Neel or even
the 19th century Paula Modersshohn Becker who painted her nude pregnant
body? Did they do a  rendition of Micheangelo's Adam, but make him Latino,
Asian or female? Or did  they update the nude in the artistic continuum in
some other way? Aren't these legitimate, artistic considerations rather than
just the fact that we have some nudes here?

However, the situation Ellen Cutler recounted is a different story. Here
someone took issue with a drawing that depicted a Ku Klux Klansman with an
African American in an exhibit titled "Fear." Ellen relates that there was
an outcry, even by people who had not taken the time to see the exhibit.
Although there had been anticipation by the gallery director who brought it
before the multicultural committee before the exhibit was mounted, nothing
was done because the committee itself did not anticipate any problem with
the subject matter. However, people thought this exhibit was an "invitation"
to the klan to the campus, and that the African American students were not
protected. The media jumped into the foray. Ultimately, the artist withdrew
the exhibit out of fear for the safety for his work and his family.

Ellen is absolutely right. And Audra offered very good advice. This was a
golden opportunity for a teaching insitution to teach. There should have
been media interviews with the artist and other artists, public community
dialogues, and perhaps a local series on "Degenerate Art" which ran in New
York City a few years ago and is accompanied by marvelous curriculum
materieals and films. This could have been a great forum for civil discourse
for these are the type of issues that strenghten democracy, by giving people
a forum to come together and debate these issues, particularly ones that
arise out of fear.

Often one cannot aniticipate the things that will bubble to the surface, but
you can be prepared to bring in someone that can sieze the opportunity to
turn it into a conciousness-raising event. Have a repetoire of consultants
who not only have experience, but shine in these type of situations. Who
know how to turn something controversial and damaging into something that is
beneficial for the institution and its community in the long run. I have no
doubt that Ellen would be such a person and you could always call on me as
well. There are people who specialize in just this type of work.

Thank you for bringing this to the list and I hope to see more posts from
other folks on this subject.

Terri McNichol
Ren Associates- Assisting Museum Communities
707 Alexander Road, Bldg. 2 Suite 208
Princeton NJ 08540
609-586-8441

Ren, a Chinese cardinal virtue, stands for benevolence and universal
empathy, encompassing five values of courtesy, magnanimity, good faith,
diligence and kindness-simply translated, it means humanity

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