When “Art” Disgraced the Virgin Mary

In 1999, NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani’s Catholic upbringing and reverence for religious sanctity was challenged by leftist protestors, lawyers, and the media, who insisted that a painting titled: The Holy Virgin Mary was an expression of free speech and thus should be supported by public tax dollars. The protestors were correct, artist Chris Ofili’s painting depicting the Virgin Mary showered in elephant manure should not have been censored or banned. Freedom of expression was not the issue regarding the painting; rather, it was whether the displaying of the painting at the Brooklyn Museum, which was and still is funded by tax dollars, should have had its tax subsidies withdrawn.

The painting which depicted the mother of Jesus encrusted in elephant dung surrounded by pornographic images of women’s asses, was part of an exhibition by British artists titled “Sensation.” The exhibit was advertised with a slick promotional gimmick of “Be Warned”.

A 2016 artsy.net article written by Issac Kaplan about Giuliani’s motion to cut public funding to the Brooklyn Museum lauded the work of litigators Floyd Abrams and Norman Siegel. Kaplan also praised Brooklyn Museum director Arnold Lehman and New York Civil Liberties Union activists for launching a campaign of protests in defense of free speech. A photo that accompanied Kaplan’s article showed a Lee Harvey Oswald…