Sensation

Sarah Lucas, Bunny, 1997 Tights, plywood chair, clamp, khapok stuffing with wire. Courtesy of the Saatchi Collection

Damien Hirst, The Phisycal Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991 Tiger shark, glass, steel, 5% form

Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Bath), 1990. Plaster, glass 40.5x41.5x82.5 inches. Courtesy of the Saatchi Collection

The Royal Academy in London was stunned by the public reaction to "Sensation," a traveling exhibition of Young British Artists from the collection of Charles Saatchi. "Sensation" features several well-known works that have shocked the art public in the 1990s, including Damien Hirst's dead shark in a tank of formaldehyde, Tracey Emin's tent inscribed with the names of everyone she has slept with, and Jake and Dinos Chapman's mannequins of children with genitals for facial features. In London, critics were most outraged by Marcus Harvey's large portrait of a woman convicted of a bizarre series of child murders in the early 1960s. The public responded to the controversy by setting record attendance numbers at the Academy. But that controversy paled by comparison to the reaction to "Sensation" when it moved to the Brooklyn Museum of Art in late
September. In the weeks prior to the opening, New York's Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani condemned the
exhibition, directing his outrage at a painting of the Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili. A British Catholic of Nigerian ancestry, Ofili often refers to African and Catholic traditions in his art. In his faux-naive style, Ofili depicted a black Madonna with an exposed breast made from dried elephant dung encrusted with beads. Surrounding her were tiny putti, made from body parts cut from pornographic magazines.
Mayor Giuliani, also a Catholic, characterized the painting as "Catholic bashing" and described the exhibition - which he refused to see - as "sick stuff." Not waiting for a response from the museum, Guiliani vowed to suspend city funding for the venerable 103-year-old museum if "Sensation" was not canceled immediately. As the museum reeled from the Mayor's attack and exaggerated media accounts of a "dung-splattered Madonna," the city's other cultural institutions wavered in lending support. For over a week, the only response was a firm "no comment" from the directors of Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. During that time, Giuliani
raised the stakes, immediately cutting funds and claiming the museum had colluded with Saatchi and an exhibition sponsor, Christie's, to inflate the value of Saatchi's collection. After the Mayor's office undermined behind-the-scenes efforts to compromise, the museum sued the city to renew its funding. The Mayor responded by moving to take over the museum board - which already includes mayoral appointees who rarely attend meetings - and initiating eviction proceedings aimed at ousting the large museum from its landmark building.
The attack on the museum by the Mayor, who is contemplating a campaign for the U.S. Senate, was
opposed by his presumptive opponent, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Echoing the sentiments of New York City Council President Peter Vallone, a Catholic, Ms. Clinton said that while she would boycott the exhibition, she supported the artists' rights to free expression. Even so tepid an
endorsement of artistic freedom won approval among New Yorkers, as indicated by polls supporting the museum in its struggles with City Hall. As public opinion soured on the Mayor, other museum
directors finally rallied to the support of Arnold Lehman, Director of the Brooklyn Museum.
As lawyers for both sides prepared for court, "Sensation" opened to long lines breaking all previous attendance records.

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