NATION : Mapplethorpe Copies Provided

An art gallery under indictment for exhibiting allegedly obscene photographs complied with a federal judge’s order and turned over to prosecutors today copies of 174 controversial Robert Mapplethorpe photos.

U.S. District Judge Carl B. Rubin on Sunday ordered the Contemporary Arts Center to provide prosecutors with copies of the pictures as a condition for restraining law enforcement officials from taking further action against the gallery.

“They (the copies) are being provided in order to prevent the necessity of having them removed from the exhibit,” gallery spokeswoman Amy Banister said. “They are being used as evidence in the case.”

Rubin’s actions Sunday mean that the gallery will be allowed to show the late artist’s controversial photographs, including seven a grand jury found obscene, at least until Friday.

The exhibit opened to both record weekend crowds and unusual weekend record legal action in the normally strait-laced city of Cincinnati. On Saturday, a county grand jury returned four indictments against the gallery and its director, Dennis Barrie, for pandering, obscenity and illegal use of a minor in obscenity-related material.