Ruling Sought on Mapplethorpe Photos

A museum planning to exhibit sexually explicit photographs by the late Robert Mapplethorpe has taken the unusual step of asking a court to decide whether they violate local obscenity laws.

The private Contemporary Arts Center hopes to forestall the sheriff’s threat to file obscenity charges against the museum when it opens the six-week exhibit April 6.

Sheriff Simon Leis, a veteran anti-smut campaigner, has called some of the pictures “criminally obscene” and said he will take action against the exhibit if police do not.

Nine of the photographs in the show depict homosexual activity and sadomasochistic sex acts. The pictures led Congress last year to limit federal support for the arts after Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) labeled them obscene.

The museum Tuesday filed a petition for a jury trial in Municipal Court. A trial date was not immediately set. Museum officials said they expected a ruling before the exhibit opens.

“It may be unorthodox for the person displaying the material to initiate this action, but in this case it is the common-sense thing to do,” said Marc Mezibov, a lawyer for the museum.