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THE PERFECT MOMENT' by KIRSTIE LANG BA (Hons.), Queen's

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THE PERFECT MOMENT' by KIRSTIE LANG BA (Hons.), Queen's FREEZING "THE PERFECT MOMENT' by KIRSTIE LANG B.A. (Hons.), Queen's University, 1990 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Curriculum Studies We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August 1995 © Kirstie Lang, 1995 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date DE-6 (2/88) 1 Abstract This study examines a body of literature which was generated by controversy. The controversy stems from the 1988-1990 exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's retrospective, "The Perfect Moment." Due to the sexual nature of the show's contents, guidelines for the National Endowment for the Arts were revised, one gallery cancelled plans to exhibit the retrospective, and another gallery was taken to court. The controversy generated extensive debate on the status of Mapplethorpe's work as art and as pornography, and on the rights of institutions to show sexual imagery and obtain federal funding. A meta-analysis of the literature on the controversy was carried out, focusing on articles published in five American art journals and one newspaper. This material was studied in order to determine the issues deemed important in the debate, the various ways these issues were debated by factions involved, and the significance of these issues within the controversy. Additional materials were incorporated to examine the history of controversy over sexual art, the type of sexuality shown in Mapplethorpe's work, feminist arguments for and against pornography, and relevant obscenity laws. The study shows that Mapplethorpe's work was defended as art based on "expert" conceptions of art and legitimating art contexts. It states that the work's "pornographic" content functions to emulate and transgress social structures. Negative reactions to the photographs' sexual content are discussed in terms of anti-pornography feminist associations of pornography with violence. Discomfort with various aspects of sexuality is also attributed to the particular nature of this debate. The hosting museums and the funding agency are ii described as having been targets of censorship, their own responsibilities to represent and challenge the status quo made problematic by the changing nature of their communities over the course of the debate. The study concludes with suggestions to museum educators. They point to the need to educate on sexual imagery's various aspects: artistic qualities, the sexuality portrayed, arguments for and against the portrayal of sexuality, and the laws relevant to its exposure. Public debate and counterspeech are encouraged. And programming involving the help of artistic, legal, and sexual experts is strongly advised. iii Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iv Acknowledgements vi Dedication vii Chapter One The Path of "The Perfect Moment," the Study, and a History of Controversy 1 "Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment" 1 The Study 9 Researcher Biases 14 Support for the Study in Art Education 17 A History of Controversy over Sexual Art 21 Observations 35 Chapter Two The Art World on Trial 41 Are the Images ART? 41 The Images in Contexts 47 Social Emulation or Transgression? 54 Defense of the Affective Content of Mapplethorpe's Images 62 Formalism 101: The Artistic Merit of Sexual Content 65 Experts of the Art World 71 Chapter Three Virtual Sex: The "Prurient" Interest in Mapplethorpe's Photographs 83 Descriptors: Objectivity, Morality, Controversy 84 Labels: Obscenity, Pornography, Erotica 89 Blurring the Lines: Porn as a Genre of Art 95 Pornography as Socially Engaged and Socially Disruptive 99 Critiques of Mapplethorpe's Pornography: Sex and Violence 105 Feminist Anti-pornography Sentiment and Mapplethorpe's Photographs 115 Mapplethorpe's Audience: Viewers or Voyeurs? 125 Mapplethorpe's Homosexuality 131 Depicting Children: Conceptions of Child Sexuality 137 Mapplethorpe's Sadomasochism 140 iv Chapter Four The First Amendment, Censorship, and Counterspeech 147 The First Amendment Argument 149 The Censorship Argument 152 Showing the Provocative in a "Neutral" Space 155 Museums and their Communities 158 The Equally Contradictory Roles of an Arts Funding Agency 164 The Rights and Responsibilities of the Viewing Public 169 Chapter Five Conclusions: What to Draw from this Controversy 177 To Museum Educators 183 References 185 Appendix A Locating Reproductions of Mapplethorpe's Images 197 Appendix B: Suggestions to Museum Educators Working with Sexual Imagery 198 v Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Ronald MacGregor, supervisor of this thesis, for his mentorship throughout the course of this degree, and for his editorial influence on this work and others which will follow. The generosity with which he shared writing and thinking skills is deeply appreciated, his creativity and compassion as an educator genuinely admired. For her encouragement to challenge metalanguages in their various contexts, and to see through the taboos that restrict reasoned thought and human understanding, I am indebted to Dr. Marjorie Halpin of the UBC Museum of Anthropology. Cheryl Meszaros of the Vancouver Art Gallery has provided inspiration as both practitioner and writer in the field of museum education; her interest in dealing with controversial imagery in the practical realm fuels my own. Both members of this thesis committee offered valuable insights on the construction, conceptualization and implications of this thesis. A special thanks to my parents, Edward and Margaret Lang, for their love and confidence throughout, and for good book suggestions. And to my immediate and extended family: Tarn, Angus, Tobi, David, and friends who shared phone bills, coffee, expertise and curiosity. vi Dedication To Regan, a radical mind, an enveloping heart, a sexual outlaw, an artist of desire. vii Chapter One The Path of "The Perfect Moment," the Study, and a History of Controversy "Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment" Of the Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective "The Perfect Moment," New York Times arts reporter Grace Glueck gives the following description: The Mapplethorpe show is a retrospective of the artist's work that contains images depicting homosexual and heterosexual erotic acts and explicit sado• masochistic practices in which black and white, naked or leather clad men and women assume erotic poses. Along with these photographs are fashionable portraits of the rich and trendy, elegant floral arrangements and naked children — images that might not necessarily be considered indecent if viewed singly but that in this context seem provocative. (Signs accompanying the show on its tour suggested that it might be unsuitable for children.) (Glueck, 1989, p. HI) The show was organized in 1988 by Janet Kardon, at Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art, with the help of the artist shortly before his death of AIDS-related complications that same year. It covered a career barely exceeding two decades, during which time Mapplethorpe rose from "avant-garde punk" status to the art world's highly successful "bad boy," but according to Dubin (1992), by the late 1980s Mapplethorpe had lost the power to shock most members of the art world (pp. 171-2). "The Perfect Moment" was funded in part by a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and it was scheduled to tour seven cities. At the first two galleries, Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the show generated discussion but positive reviews overall. It was on June 13, 1989, when the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC announced last minute 1 cancellation of the show (scheduled to open July 1) that controversy flared. Governmental debate over the show had begun several months earlier, when Senators Helms and Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) denounced representations they saw as "shocking, abhorrent and undeserving" of federal support. Specifically, these representations were Andres Serrano's Piss Christ (1987), a Cibachrome print of a wood-and-plastic crucifix submerged in the artist's urine, and Mapplethorpe's sadomasochistic images from his "X Portfolio."1 Helms undertook a process of proposing several measures that summer of 1989 to restrict National Endowment for the Arts funding policies. Thus in the minds of those both supporting and opposed to the show, gallery director Christina Orr-Cahall bowed to the intimidation tactics of the senator. Protest against the Corcoran was strong. Anti-censorship demonstrations were held, one of which included the projection of Mapplethorpe's work onto the outside of the building. Ten percent of gallery members cancelled, major bequests to the gallery were withheld, artists withdrew upcoming shows, staff members integral to the gallery quit, and Orr-Cahall submitted her resignation that December. Local alternative space Washington Project for the Arts announced plans to take the Mapplethorpe show from July 20-August 13. The Washington Post and Times and the New York Times played hosts to public and professional opinions on the issue. The most prominent of these came from cultural conservative Hilton Kramer, former art critic of the New York Times and then editor of xThe photos had been brought to the senators' attention by the Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Association and its director, United Methodist minister Rev. Donald Wildmon, who is opposed to "immoral, anti-Christian" images (Vance, 1989, p. 39). 2 The New Criterion: his New York Times article, titled "Is Art Above the Laws of Decency?" voiced support of the Corcoran decision and Kramer's sincere offense to the Mapplethorpe images.
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