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Sensation (art exhibition)

Royal Academy, London

Sensation was an exhibition of the collection of contemporary art

owned by Charles Saatchi, including many works by Young British

Artists, which first took place 18 September  – 28 December 1997 at

the Royal Academy of Art in London. The show of his collection later

toured to Berlin and New York. A proposed showing at the National

Gallery of Australia was cancelled when the gallery's director decided

the exhibition was "too close to the market."

The show generated controversy in London and New York due to the

inclusion of images of Myra Hindley and the Virgin Mary. The show

consisted of work from the collection of Charles Saatchi. It was

criticised by New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and others for attempting to boost the value of the work by showing

it in institutions and public museums.[1]

Works

 Myra: 1995 depiction of the child

killer Myra Hindley by the YBA

Marcus Harvey

The artworks in Sensation were from the collection of Charles Saatchi, a leading

collector and publiciser of contemporary art. Norman Rosenthal, the Royal

Academy of Arts exhibitions secretary, helped to stage the 110 works by 42

different artists. Many of the pieces had already become famous, or notorious,

with the British public (for example, Damien Hirst's shark suspended in

formaldehyde titled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone

 Living, and Tracey Emin's tent titled   Everyone I Have Ever Slept With

1963– 

1995). Others had already achieved prominence in other ways, such as asuccessful advertising campaign using an idea from Gillian Wearing's

photographs. Sensation was the first time that a wide audience had had the

chance to see these works en masse. The Royal Academy posted this disclaimer

to visitors on entry:

There will be works of art on display in the Sensation exhibition which

some people may find distasteful. Parents should exercise their judgement

in bringing their children to the exhibition. One gallery will not be open to those under the age of 18.[2]

LondonThe opening of Sensation at the Royal Academy caused a public furore and a media frenzy, with both broadsheet

and tabloid journalists falling over themselves to comment on the show’s controversial images, and unprecedented

crowds queuing up to see for themselves what all the fuss was about. Around a quarter of the RA's 80 academicians

gave a warning that the exhibition was inflammatory. They and some members of the public complained about

several other exhibits, notably the installations by Jake and Dinos Chapman, which were of child mannequins with

noses replaced by penises and mouths in the form of an anus.

However, the biggest media controversy was over  Myra, an image of the murderer Myra Hindley by Marcus

Harvey.[2]

The Mothers Against Murder and Aggression protest group picketed the show, accompanied by Winnie Johnson, the

mother of one of Hindley's victims,[3]

who asked for the portrait, made up of hundreds of copies of a child's

handprint, to be excluded to protect her feelings. Along with supporters she picketed the show's first day. Myra

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Hindley sent a letter from jail suggesting that her portrait be removed from the exhibition, reasoning that such action

was necessary because the work was “a sole disregard not only for the emotional pain and trauma that would

inevitably be experienced by the families of the Moors victims but also the families of any child victim. ”[4]

 [5]

Despite all the protest the painting remained hanging. Windows at Burlington House, the Academy's home, were

smashed and two demonstrators hurled ink and eggs at the picture as a result, requiring it to be removed and

restored. It was put back on display behind Perspex[6]

and guarded by security men.

The show was extremely popular with the general public, attracting over 300,000 visitors during its run,[6]

helped by

the media attention which the strong subject matter had received. The BBC described it as "gory images of 

dismembered limbs and explicit pornography".[7]

Berlin

Sensation was shown at the Berlin Hamburger Bahnhof museum (30 September 1998  –  30 January 1999) and

proved so popular that it was extended past its original closing date of 28 December 1998.

New York

Brooklyn Museum of Art

The exhibition was shown in New York City at the

Brooklyn Museum from 2 October 1999 to 9 January

2000. The New York show was met with instant

protest, centering on The Holy Virgin Mary by Chris

Ofili, which had not provoked this reaction in London.

While the press reported that the piece was smeared

with elephant dung, Ofili's work in fact showed a

carefully rendered black Madonna decorated with a

resin-covered lump of elephant dung. The figure is also

surrounded by small collaged images of female

genitalia from pornographic magazines; these seemed

from a distance to be the traditional cherubim.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who had seen the work in the catalogue but not in the show, called it "sick 

stuff" and threatened to withdraw the annual $7 million City Hall grant from the Brooklyn Museum hosting the

show, because "You don't have a right to government subsidy for desecrating somebody else's religion."[6]

Cardinal

John O'Connor, the Archbishop of New York, said, "one must ask if it is an attack on religion itself," and the

president of America's biggest group of Orthodox Jews, Mandell Ganchrow, called it "deeply offensive".[8]

William

A. Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said the work "induces revulsion".[6]

Giuliani started a lawsuit to evict the museum, and Arnold Lehman, the museum director, filed a federal lawsuitagainst Giuliani for a breach of the First Amendment.

[8]

Hillary Clinton spoke up for the museum, as did the New York Civil Liberties Union.[9]

The editorial board of The

 New York Times said, Giuliani's stance "promises to begin a new Ice Age in New York's cultural affairs."[10]

The

paper also carried a full-page advertisement in support signed by over 100 actors, writers and artists, including Susan

Sarandon, Steve Martin, Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller, Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Sontag.[8]

Ofili, who is Roman

Catholic, said, "elephant dung in itself is quite a beautiful object."[8]

The United States House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution to end federal funding for the museum

on 3 October 1999, and New York City did stop funding to the Brooklyn Museum. On 1 November, federal judge

Nina Gershon ordered the City not only to restore the funding that was denied to the Museum, but also to refrain

from continuing its ejectment action. On 16 December 1999, a 72-year-old man was arrested for criminal mischief 

after smearing the Ofili painting with white paint, which was soon removed.[11]

The museum produced a yellow

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stamp, saying the artworks on show "may cause shock, vomiting, confusion, panic, euphoria and anxiety."[8]

and

Ofili's painting was shown behind a Plexiglass screen, guarded by a museum attendant and an armed police

officer.[10]

Jeffrey Hogrefe, art critic for the  New York Observer , commented about the museum, "They wanted to

get some publicity and they got it. I think it was pretty calculated."[6]

The editor-in-chief of the New York  Art &

 Auction magazine, Bruce Wolmer,said: "When the row eventually fades the only smile will be on the face of Charles

Saatchi, a master self-promoter."[8]

Australia

The show was scheduled to open in June 1999 at the National Gallery of Australia, but was cancelled, the director,

Brian Kennedy, saying that, although it was due to be funded by the Australian government, it was "too close to the

market" since finance for the Brooklyn exhibition included $160,000 from Saatchi, who owned the work; $50,000

from Christie's, who had sold work for Saatchi; and $10,000 from dealers of many of the artists.[12]

Kennedy said he

was unaware of this when he accepted the show. Saatchi's contribution, the largest single one, was not disclosed by

the Brooklyn Museum, until it appeared in court documents.[12]

Similarly, when the show opened in London at the

Royal Academy, there had been criticisms that it would raise the value of the work.[12]

Artists exhibited in Sensation

YBAs

• Jake & Dinos Chapman

• Adam Chodzko

• Mat Collishaw

• Tracey Emin

• Marcus Harvey

• Damien Hirst• Gary Hume

• Michael Landy

• Abigail Lane

• Sarah Lucas

• Chris Ofili

• Richard Patterson

• Simon Patterson

• Marc Quinn

• Fiona Rae

• Sam Taylor-Wood• Gavin Turk 

• Gillian Wearing

• Rachel Whiteread

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Other artists from the Saatchi collection

• Darren Almond

• Richard Billingham

• Glenn Brown

• Simon Callery

• Keith Coventry• Peter Davies

• Paul Finnegan

• Mark Francis

• Alex Hartley

• Mona Hatoum

• Langlands & Bell

• Martin Maloney

• Jason Martin

• Alain Miller

• Ron Mueck • Jonathan Parsons

• Hadrian Pigott

• James Rielly

• Jenny Saville

• Yinka Shonibare

• Jane Simpson

• Mark Wallinger

• Cerith Wyn Evans

Notes and references

[1] Herszenhorn, David M. (30 September 1999), Brooklyn Museum Accused of Trying to Lift Art Value (http://www.  nytimes. com/library/ 

arts/093099brooklyn-museum. html), New York Times, , retrieved 29 September 2009

[2] Dalrymple, Theodore (Winter, 1998), "Trash, Violence, and Versace: But Is It Art?" (http://www. city-journal. org/html/ 

8_1_urbanities-trash. html), City Journal, , retrieved 25 February 2008

[3] Alberge, Dalya (19 September 1997), "Attacks force Hindley portrait to be moved" (http://docs. newsbank. com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.

88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw. newsbank.com:AWNB:LTIB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F924CA724CFF0B6&

svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=1054640702C8DBC0) (subscription required), The Times, , retrieved 29 September 2009

[4] Lyall, Sarah (20 September 1997), "Art That Tweaks British Propriety (http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage.

html?res=9A0CEEDD1F38F933A1575AC0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all)""], New York Times, , retrieved 25 February 2008

[5] Young, Alison. "Judging the Image: Art, Value, Law". Routledge, January, 2005. p. 34. ISBN 0-4153-0183-1

[6] "Sensation sparks New York storm" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/455902. stm), BBC, 23 September 1999. Retrieved 17

October 2008.

[7] "Entertainment Sensational hit for Royal Academy" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/43401. stm), BBC, 30 December 1997.

Retrieved 22 November 2008.

[8] Davies, Hugh; Fenton, Ben (2 October 1999), "Whiff of sensation hits New York"" (http://www. telegraph. co. uk/htmlContent.

 jhtml?html=/archive/1999/10/02/wsen02. html), The Daily Telegraph, , retrieved 17 October 2008

[9] Nagourney, Adam (28 September 1999), First Lady Assails Mayor Over Threat to Museum (http://www.  nytimes. com/library/arts/ 

092899brooklyn-hillary. html), New York Times, , retrieved 19 July 2009

[10] Rapp, Christopher. "Dung Deal - Brooklyn Museum of Art's "Sensation" exhibition" (http://findarticles.  com/p/articles/mi_m1282/ 

is_20_51/ai_56220691), National Review, 25 October 1999. Retrieved 17 October 2008.

[11] "Vandal Attacks Ofili Madonna" (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_2_88/ai_59450150/), Art in America, February 2000,

, retrieved 20 July 2009

[12] Vogel, Carol. "Australian Museum cancels controversial art show" (http://query.  nytimes. com/gst/fullpage.

html?res=9807E5DA1E3FF932A35751C1A96F958260), The New York Times, 1 December 1999. Retrieved 17 October 2008.

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Further reading

• Rosenthal, Norman, Adams, Brooks, Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain), Saatchi Collection. Sensation:

Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection. April 1998. Thames and Hudson. London. book cover image

(http://www.  amazon. com/gp/reader/0500280428)

• Hirst, Damien. Damien Hirst pictures from the Saatchi Gallery. London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2001.

• Rothfield, Lawrence (ed). Unsettling 'Sensation': Arts-Policy from the Brooklyn Museum of Art Controversy(http://www.  amazon. com/Unsettling-Sensation-Arts-Policy-Controversy-ebook/dp/B000RL54I0). Rutgers

University Press, 2001.

External links

• BBC review of the Sensation exhibition (http://news. bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/43401.  stm)

• A timeline of the New York protests (http://www. artnotart.com/f-sensation.html)

• Links to the various artists involved in Sensation (http://www. artcyclopedia. com/history/sensation.  html)

• David Bowie ran the virtual Sensation exhibition (now over) (http://news.zdnet. com/2100-9595_22-515862.

html?legacy=zdnn)• Royal Academy of Arts (http://www. royalacademy. org. uk/)

• Brooklyn Museum of Art (http://www. brooklynmuseum.org/)

• Berlin Hamburger Bahnhof Museum - website and page on the Sensation exhibition in German (http://www.

smb. spk-berlin. de/d/exhibition/sensation/index.html)

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Article Sources and Contributors 6

Article Sources and ContributorsSensation (art exhibition)  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=398920876 Contributors: 354d, A Nobody, Armbrust, Artiquities, Ashmoo, Axeman89, BD2412, BlueThird,

Ceoil, Chowbok, Cloonmore, Cmdrjameson, Dae dalus042, David Noll, David Shankbone, Deltabeignet, Dogears, Donaldal, Dsp13, Gloriamarie, Ground Zero, Gyrofrog, Głupota, Harryjones,

Highway99, Hnismokehash, JForget, Jedravent, Kathrin Muysers, Lauciusa, Luckydraws, Ma lleus Fatuorum, Mandarax, Margin1522, Penguin2006, Piersmasterson, Rich Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi,

Shenme, Sparkit, Subversive.sound, The Stickler, TheMindsEye, Theramin, Tyrenius, Woohookitty, Zoe Buchanan, 29 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Burlington House-Courtyard.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Burlington_House-Courtyard.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors:

G.dallorto, Kurpfalzbilder.de, Lonpicman, Lotse, Sir James

Image:Marcus-Harvey-Myra.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Marcus-Harvey-Myra.jpg  License: unknown Contributors: Tyrenius

File:Brooklyn Museum June 2008 sunset jeh.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Brooklyn_Museum_June_2008_sunset_jeh.JPG  License: Public Domain

 Contributors: DenghiùComm, Jim.henderson, Ras67

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