The Art of Pornography

[€uroMeinke]

This weekend some of us went to the Getty and one of their exhibitions was on nude photography. Of course I had to check this out, and was amused by the wall copy on one piece dated from the 1850's depicting two nude women in a suggestive embrace. It commented on the first use of photography being the capture of such pornographic content for explicitly private purpose. But it concluded by mentioning the age and patina of the work had degraded it's ability to arouse - as if, now (being in a museum) it clearly wasn't porn anymore. I smiled for Marcel Duchamp and Dadaist everywhere...

But what an amazing instance of synchronicity to here this on NPR coming home tonight:

World's Most Explicit Art Is on Exhibit in London


A major art exhibition in London at one of the UK's top galleries is not open to anyone younger than 18.

"Seduced," at the Barbican Gallery, is billed as the most sexually explicit fine-art exhibition ever staged. It attempts to show 2,500 years of sexuality in world art, and to explore how attitudes about what is erotic art and what is pornography have changed through the ages.

Makes me want to go back to London

Oh and you can see a few images at the Barbican site here