Tag Archives: mapplethorpe

From Mapplethorpe to Iowa, through New Hampshire and California: US rules on obscenity and nudity in art

Posted on: May 29, 2019 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

Even though there is currently an ongoing lawsuit in Iowa to determine what materials containing nudity prisoners should be granted access to, this is a debate that actually began much earlier. Our story begins in New Hampshire in 1942, when a ground-breaking precedent was set: the freedom of expression right granted by the constitution of […]

Sale today of once-“obscene” Mapplethorpe photo

Posted on: October 7, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

Today, Sotheby’s New York will be auctioning off a print of a controversial Robert Mapplethorpe photograph entitled Man in Polyester Suit (no, we won’t describe it for you). Twenty-five years ago the work was at the centre of criminal proceedings brought against the Cincinnati Art Center and its director for contravening US obscenity laws after the institution had […]