About Art Censorship

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

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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!

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

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).

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.

^{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

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

^{The Capitoline Venus, covered on the left - uncovered inset right Source}

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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

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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