Wednesday 12 December 2012

Another Nude Man

The Leopold Museum in Vienna, Austria, is in the news again. A man visiting the Nackte Männer (Nude Men) exhibition stripped naked and wandered round viewing the exhibits until a security guard asked him to get dressed, despite other visitors appearing unperturbed by his nudity (CLICK). Let's face it ... er ... I'll put that another way. If you're one of the 65,000 visitors to an exhibition displaying naked men, including Gilbert & George mooning (CLICK to find), you can't be shocked if a real live male nude wanders past. The security guard who asked him to dress must be a prude.

posted by Unknown @ 12.12.12   7 comments

7 Comments:

At 13/12/12, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If it is an oil painting or marble/bronze sculpture then it is probably classed as "art".

If it is a photograph or a small plastic replica it is probably classed as either "tasteless" or "pornographic".

If it is an original in the flesh then it is usually classed as "indecent exposure".

Reminds me of a country in which I onced worked. A picture in an expensive hardback book was sold as officially approved "art". The same subject in a paperback book was prosecuted as "obscene".

The local library had the TimeLife books on photography. All pictures of nudes had been censored by cutting a neat inverted triangle out of each torso's image.

 
At 13/12/12, Blogger Unknown said...

Yes, it's confusing, isn't it? And it changes with time and country. Back in 2007 the Leopold Museum allowed free entry to one of its exhibitions for those who came in naked or scantily dressed:
http://coxsoft.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/how-to-photo-art-2.html

I assume the TimeLife books were vandalized by a prude, not by the library. It takes all sorts....

 
At 14/12/12, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The same country regularly tore the front cover off Amateur Photographer before it was allowed to be distributed. 1970s record covers showing topless women were painstakingly censored with a black marker pen.

The international airmail edition of News Of The World censored a front page picture of female streakers on Westminster bridge. They carefully added panties and bras - and it was only a back view! The surface mail British edition showed the discrepancy.

 
At 14/12/12, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Possibly the librarians. State jobs went to people who were good party members - irrespective of their professional skills. The same country's Customs regularly tore off the front cover of Amateur Photographer before allowing it to be distributed.

It was the first country where I heard this phrase in the 1970s: "We are now landing - please turn your watches back 50 years".

 
At 14/12/12, Blogger Unknown said...

I was thinking Turkey until I read "party members". Commie country, I guess. But it could be anywhere in the Arab world.

 
At 14/12/12, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was South Africa in the 1970s.

 
At 15/12/12, Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks. It was becoming a tease.

 

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