About Art Censorship

in freethenipple •  7 years ago  (edited)

Virgin and Child, by Joovs van Cleve-wdoorknob.jpg

Virgin and Child, by Joos van Cleve, painted in 1525 - digitally altered to cover her nipple with a door knob.


The details about this are found in my blog from October 1, 2008 (the image was especially created for this blog post):
Vatican plea to uncover Virgin Mary and show her breast-feeding baby Jesus
What prompted me to dig this old post up again was a posting on Steemit:
Art, Female Nipples, NSFW & Censsorship - The conservative views from the world of Facebook and how should we behave on Steemit
which I commented on. I knew I had this posted somewhere, but it took me some time to find my blog post again. At the time I made this digital image, I searched high and low for just the right door knob for the longest time, until I found one perfect fit. But this is not about door knobs and virgins, but about the knobs that troll art postings and flag them!


Looking back, I had posted a few more times about censorship - on May 17, 2009
M.F. Husain - Controversial Indian Artist

unnamed.jpg
Maqbool Fida Husain is (was, he passed on in 2011) one of India's most famous contemporary painters although he lives in Dubai. He is afraid to go home because he has provoked the ire of Hindu Nationalists for painting goddesses, sometimes in the nude.
I wrote also about this:
I had quite some heated discussions with the network creator (and censor) of the ArtLab network, concerning this issue, after a blog of mine featuring a slide show of select works by Visionary Artists was deleted on that network (most likely because of the latest inclusion of Miguel Tio's work).

Peacepeacepeacexlarge.jpg
Peace...Peace...Peace by Miguel Tio

Here is a copy of the conversation about censorship of my blog containing the above painting by Miguel Tio:

From Dr. Krishna Kumar
Sent May 13, 2009


Mr. Rapp, thanks for your message. Yes, people quote Khajuraho & other ancient Indian art works when they are supporting nude & erotic art. But that type of art belongs to ancient India. We are more cultured now. When Mr. MF Hussian, the most famous Indian artist painted nude pics of Goddesses, he was attacked & was not allowed to work in India & was sued. He now lives in Exile. So when I created this network I told myself I won't allow any of these things on my network. Period. I am a very busy Person & don't want to waste my time by getting into these legal battles & arguments. I am not against this type of work personally. I respect your freedom & right to work in any way you want. But when you are dealing with different people from all parts of the world, you have to respect their opinions too. Warm wishes krishna.



From Otto Rapp to Dr. Krishna Kumar
Sent May 12, 2009


Dr Krishna, The litmus test for art, in any culture, is merit. Without merit, our museum walls would be empty save for abstract splatterings, Guilermo Vargas' displays of starving dogs, and Piero Manzoni's excrement-filled cans. I would assume that the "offending" blog post pertains to a slide show of work by select Visionary Artists, many of them renown worldwide and leaders in the genre, most of which are working in the manner and craftsmanship of the old Masters of the Renaissance, and striving to preserve the skill and culture, while building and resurrecting a tradition that is in danger of being lost. My blog post could just as easily have contained images of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Infant Jesus (by many different artists of the Renaissance), Michelangelo's statue of David, any or most of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel, the Elgin Marbles from Greek temples or indeed depictions from the Laksmana Temple in Khajuraho.
Khajuraho_India,_Lakshman_Temple,_Sculpture_06.JPG
Sculpture (Outer Wall), Lakshman Temple, Khajuraho India, source

And since I mentioned Michelangelo's David - a painting of mine was also censored once on the network ArtWanted for violating their Policies & Guidelines

David Multiplicity calendar page-web1650.jpg

So what? most of public places in Europe (such as Florence, where a copy of David stands in the Piazza della Signoria), and museums would then be censored for the puritan mindset?

This here I would find hilarious, if it weren't so sad:
Rome spares Iranian president's blushes by covering nude statues

rgN4X2ks.jpg
The Capitoline Venus, covered on the left - uncovered inset right Source


A more recent blog post of mine regarding censorship had to do with the Canadian town Lethbridge, where I had resided for decades until moving back to Austria - the particulars about this were sent to me by a friend:

Thursday, June 2, 2016
Alberta art gallery takes down student’s work after complaint over nudity

A Lethbridge student's art piece is being called, by some, too controversial for elementary school students. The Lethbridge Public School Board asked the Southern Alberta Art Gallery to take the piece down after a parent complained. Global News, Canada

unnamed (1).jpg

My own 2 cents worth of comment:
Is this for real? It sounds like a bad Saturday Night Live spoof about this Alberta hick town, or maybe something one would expect to happen in ISIS controlled parts of Syria. Certainly not in a modern Western Society. That the Lethbridge School District 51 would give in to a complaint by a obviously uncultured prude is astonishing; laughable if it were not such a sad reflection on what misunderstood 'political correctness' has come to dictate, forcing the moral position of one onto the general public. What next? This piece is a brillant collage by this grade 12 student, a tribute to historical art. Next would be banning any depictions of Michelangelo's work found in places such as the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Good enough for the pope, but oh, not suitable for the morals of prudish Lethbridge. And again, Southern Alberta's Lethbridge makes it self the laughing stock of Canada and the world! Way to go!




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I haven't been keeping up to date with world events and such, so I didn't know that "freethenipple" is a thing. Thought you were maybe just being creative with your hashtags.
Did you ever notice that every problem that has ever existed in the world still exists today? It just keeps shifting geographically, every once in a while, or the name for something changes..

"Silly" is a nice, optimistic word for this world.

nah, I "adopted" that hashtag from another post about censorship which I commented on, so those 2 posts are the only ones on the Steemit landscape: #freethenipple - but maybe a trend should be started!

didn't know that - and even a wiki entry! Why is this only now a tag on Steemit, with - count them - two posts only?!?!

Khajuraho is a fabulous site and the Indians and other tourists who go there do not consider it to be uncultured and primitive. Some of the most beautiful Indian sculpture can be found there. We live in bizarre times where excessive prudishness among elected officials and voters and an extreme preoccupation in the media with sexual content coincide. A schizophrenic situation.

thank you @kathleenscarboro - there were many more exchanges between myself and that person, which got quite bizarre, to say the least.

Of course, how you paint the gods in the Indian pantheon in India can raise quite a ruckus.

Interesting POV, when one considers Manet's Luncheon on the Grass - a revolutionary depiction of ordinary people in the nude: previously, it was gods and mythological figures that were painted in the nude. Society ladies of days before Manet would let themselves get painted in the nude, but always as goddesses or figures of myth.

The Indians don't mind if you paint the gods, but get very upset if you treat them disrespectfully in your paintings.

what is the definition of "disrespectful" ? Would something in the style of Michelangelo's The Last Judgment be considered disrespectful - depicting biblical figures in the nude?
Maqbool Fida Husain was criticized for exactly that what Renaissance and Neo-classical artists used to paint: Gods and mythological figures in the nude, but not real people.

Here is a link. He didn't paint anything that would shock the West. Also became the most famous painter of India, died at 95. https://www.quackreview.com/art/10-controversial-paintings-of-m-f-husain/

thank you @mammasitta for your upvotes on this and my recent posts. I really appreciate your support!

Subject of part 2 will be my blog about Susannah Martin - here a little preview:
SUSANNAH MARTIN ARTICLE IN HUFFINGTON POST HIT BY FACEBOOK CENSORSHIP

keep up the great posts!

thanks - this was something that had bugged me about Facebook and other such sites - this why I enjoy Steemit!

Great post! Excellent arguments against censorship. I have also reviewed your other posts since finding this one. You are so extremely talented! Thank you very much for sharing it all.

thank you for your thoughtful comment!

I agree with every word. This world has just gone mad :P

There is also this recent occurance.

Censorship is always a concern. I have no idea where (or if) it will end. I hope for a freer world but, alas, it looks like we're heading in the opposite direction.

Here's a quote from Terry Pratchett concerning freedom:

'I couldn’t tell you even if I knew, because of zer Freedom of zer Press.’
‘Freedom to pour oil on a flame, d’you mean?’ Vimes demanded.
‘That’s freedom for you,’ said Otto. No vun said it vas nice.'
(Thud!)