No Friend of the Nude: A Blushing Facebook Wages a ... - Boek 861
No Friend of the Nude: A Blushing Facebook Wages a ... - Boek 861
No Friend of the Nude: A Blushing Facebook Wages a ... - Boek 861
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<strong>No</strong> <strong>Friend</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nude</strong>: A <strong>Blushing</strong> <strong>Facebook</strong> <strong>Wages</strong> a<br />
Campaign Against Courbet and Au Naturale Art<br />
<strong>Facebook</strong> took issue with a Danish artist's posting <strong>of</strong> Courbet's "The Origin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World" to his<br />
Courtesy <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Forum Gallery, New York<br />
The above drawing, by artist Steven Assael, was censored from <strong>the</strong> New York Academy <strong>of</strong> Art's <strong>Facebook</strong><br />
pr<strong>of</strong>ile.
An uncensored version <strong>of</strong> "The Origin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World" hangs at <strong>the</strong> Museé d'Orsay in Paris.<br />
Send a letter to <strong>the</strong> Editor<br />
Save to Del.icio.us Digg this<br />
In what is only <strong>the</strong> latest <strong>of</strong> a recent series <strong>of</strong> skirmishes between artists and <strong>Facebook</strong>, 19thcentury<br />
master Gustave Courbet's famous provocation "The Origin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World" (1866) has<br />
become a rallying point for critics decrying <strong>the</strong> social network's prudish content standards. The<br />
work, an icon <strong>of</strong> realist painting that currently resides in <strong>the</strong> Musee d'Orsay in Paris, is a<br />
graphic depiction <strong>of</strong> female anatomy — <strong>the</strong> British philosopher Roger Scruton once termed it a<br />
woman's "lower portrait." <strong>No</strong>w <strong>the</strong> painting's acclaimed realism has resulted in a stand<strong>of</strong>f<br />
between a Danish artist and <strong>the</strong> online company, provoking heated rhetoric about <strong>Facebook</strong>'s<br />
effects on public discourse.<br />
The flare-up began when Copenhagen-based Frode Steinicke posted an image <strong>of</strong> "The Origin<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World" to his own page, illustrating some remarks about a racy show on Danish public<br />
television (his <strong>Facebook</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>ile lists his TV interests as "I hate every TV shows" [sic]). This post<br />
apparently led <strong>the</strong> artist to have his account disabled, when <strong>Facebook</strong> administrators deemed<br />
that <strong>the</strong> image violated its decency standards. Steinicke has since had his account restored —<br />
minus <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>fending art image. "This is an unreasonable censorship, especially as this famous<br />
painting, part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> French cultural heritage, was intended to illustrate my comments," Steinicke<br />
told <strong>the</strong> AFP.<br />
This tiff has touched a nerve in France. Writer Luc Wouters took to <strong>the</strong> Web site Rue89 to<br />
declare a solidarity campaign with Steinicke. Wouters defiantly changed his pr<strong>of</strong>ile picture to<br />
"The Origin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World" — only to have his account disabled less than 24 hours later. Still, he<br />
calls on o<strong>the</strong>rs to follow his lead, "to disseminate 'The Origin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World' widely so that<br />
[<strong>Facebook</strong> CEO] Mark Zuckerberg comes across this masterpiece <strong>of</strong> world heritage <strong>of</strong><br />
humanity, and can admire its unfailing and unrelenting beauty as much as I do."<br />
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Wouters called his and Steinicke's experience "a serious attack on freedom <strong>of</strong> expression," and<br />
announced his intention to draw <strong>the</strong> attention <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> French Ministry <strong>of</strong> Culture to <strong>the</strong> matter.<br />
"<strong>Facebook</strong> wants to impose a form <strong>of</strong> Sharia law on <strong>the</strong> Internet by prohibiting <strong>the</strong> naked female<br />
body from being shown in <strong>the</strong> splendor <strong>of</strong> its natural beauty," Wouters fulminates. "Once again,<br />
Eve is expelled from paradise."<br />
This rhetoric seems a bit hyperbolic, but <strong>the</strong> incident is only <strong>the</strong> most recent instance <strong>of</strong> art<br />
finding itself up against <strong>Facebook</strong>'s nudity police. Just last month, <strong>the</strong> New York Academy <strong>of</strong>
Art found itself so exasperated by <strong>Facebook</strong>'s insistent removal <strong>of</strong> relatively chaste nudes on its<br />
page that it took to its blog to ask readers, "How is FACEBOOK controlling ART?" The school<br />
posted a mini-catalogue <strong>of</strong> works that had been flagged as violating <strong>the</strong> site's terms <strong>of</strong> use,<br />
including pieces by Richard T. Scott, John Wellington, Judy Fox, and Steven Assael.<br />
Apparently, it was <strong>the</strong> removal <strong>of</strong> Assael's ink-on-paper work "Simone" that was <strong>the</strong> last straw<br />
for <strong>the</strong> Academy.<br />
The story made waves. The New York Times covered <strong>the</strong> brouhaha, eliciting an apologetic<br />
statement from a <strong>Facebook</strong> spokesman: "We count many amateur — and some pr<strong>of</strong>essional —<br />
artists among our employees, and we're thrilled that so many artists share <strong>the</strong>ir work on<br />
<strong>Facebook</strong>. In this case, we congratulate <strong>the</strong> artist on his lifelike portrayal that, frankly, fooled our<br />
reviewers. Each member <strong>of</strong> our investigations team reviews thousands <strong>of</strong> pieces <strong>of</strong> reported<br />
content every day and, <strong>of</strong> course, we occasionally make a mistake. We're sorry for <strong>the</strong><br />
confusion here and we encourage <strong>the</strong> artist to repost his work."<br />
Such insistence seems definitely not to provide recourse in <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> Courbet's particularly inyour-face<br />
image <strong>of</strong> artistic nudity, however. Stay tuned.<br />
<strong>No</strong> <strong>Friend</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nude</strong>: A <strong>Blushing</strong> <strong>Facebook</strong> <strong>Wages</strong> a<br />
Campaign Against Courbet and Au Naturale Art<br />
<strong>Facebook</strong> took issue with a Danish artist's posting <strong>of</strong> Courbet's "The Origin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World" to his