Above, (l.) a Shields at 14 in 'The Blue Lagoon' and (r.) at a 2009… (Kempin / Getty (r))
BY NEIL NAGRAJ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
An exhibition at the Tate Modern will feature a photograph of a nude ten-year-old Brooke Shields alongside sexually explicit pop art - a decision akin to rolling out a welcome mat for perverts, outraged critics charge.
The inclusion of Richard Price's 1983 work 'Spiritual America' in the internationally-renowned London museum's exhibit "Pop Life, Art In A Material World," opening Thursday, has sparked the ire of both children's advocates and religious groups, London's Daily Mail reports.
"Putting a sign on the door like that means every pedophile in the land will head straight to that room," said Michele Elliott, founder of a children's charity called Kidscape, who has joined a chorus of voices calling for the exhibit's removal.
Price's 1983 image is actually a picture of an image taken in 1975 by artist Gary Cross. In it, a nude ten-year-old Brooke Shields, heavily made-up, stands in a bath staring at the camera.
Cross's photograph was taken after he hired Shields to be a model, allegedly with her mother's permission. Shields lost a 1981 court battle to purchase back the negatives, with a judge ruling the agreement between Cross and her mother was binding.
Officials at the Tate Modern sought legal advice prior to including the Price image in the exhibition and will display it in a room alerting visitors to the piece's "challenging" nature.
"As with any artwork that contains challenging imagery, Tate has sought legal advice and evaluated the situation," a spokesman told the Daily Mail.
"Tate has taken measures to inform visitors of the nature of the work, providing information outlining the intentions of the artist."
The legality of the photo's inclusion failed to pacify some of the exhibit's critics.
"They took legal advice to see what they could get away with," Simon Calvert of The Christian Institute said. "Why didn't they take advice from ordinary parents and the public as to what's appropriate."
"I think that any parent of young girls would just be so shocked to hear that a tax-payer funded gallery thinks it is all right to show photographs of a nude ten-year-old in the middle of a pornography exhibition."
"Pop Life" claims to explore how "artists have mixed commerce and glamour to promote their public image," according to a statement on the Tate's website. It features works by a veritable who's who of pop artists, including pieces by Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Keith Haring and Andy Warhol.
The photograph "Spiritual America" appeared in New York at Guggenheim in 2007 in an exhibit by the same name.
