Museum Trustees Reverse Ban on John Lennon Photo

Reversing an action that catapulted a local gallery into the raging debate over art and censorship, the trustees of the Muckenthaler Cultural Center voted unanimously Thursday night to restore a photograph of rock star John Lennon to an art exhibit.

Muckenthaler curator Norman Lloyd, who had opposed the decision to remove the photo, resigned immediately after the vote, saying the board had usurped his authority.

Lloyd said that even though the board eventually supported his position, he believes the panel should not be making decisions on what is displayed in the gallery. By voting to restore the work, he complained, the board had officially assumed the power to decide which works will be included in future shows.

The photograph was pulled from the exhibition at the city-run gallery before it opened Saturday because some trustees complained that the work did not fit what they planned as a “positive show on heroism.” The photo, which ran as the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in January, 1981, shows Lennon nude and curled in a fetal position embracing his fully clothed wife, Yoko Ono.

Board Chairman Beverly Gunter, who had taken responsibility for the decision to remove the photo, acknowledged Thursday that she and some fellow trustees had overstepped their bounds by getting involved in selecting artworks. The decision to remove the photo was not put to a vote by the full board.

During a public meeting at the Muckenthaler on Thursday, Gunter said she had been asked to preview the show, titled “Heroes, Heroines, Idols and Icons,” and to take part in the selection process. “This was inappropriate, and I regret getting involved at this level,” she said.

The center later released a statement explaining its actions:

“The initial decision not to include the photo in the exhibit was in no way intended to be an attempt to censor the content of the show,” it read. “Nor was it meant to discredit John Lennon or his many contributions to the music world and to the cause of world peace. The initial decision was made out of a sincere consideration of perceived community concerns and a belief the photo did not meet the concept of the exhibit. The decision was rescinded once it became evident that there was considerable interest in having the photo included in the exhibit.”

Removal of the Lennon photo was assailed by members of the public and segments of the arts community. After the decision was made public Tuesday, more than 100 people called the Muckenthaler, most of them to criticize the move.

Mark Story, a Los Angeles photographer who has eight photographic portraits of homeless men in the show, said Thursday afternoon he would ask to have his works removed from the show regardless of the board’s decision.

“If the Lennon work stays, I still want my work taken down,” Story said. “I don’t like the general smell of pressure on art that isn’t deemed acceptable being removed from a show.”

At least two other lenders had threatened to demand the return of their works if the Lennon portrait was not restored to the show. Los Angeles collector Tom Hatch loaned four lithographs of works by prominent artists Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg; the Long Beach-based Works Gallery loaned works by Jim Morphesis and Frank Dixon.

Photographer Annie Leibovitz, who took the portrait just hours before Lennon was shot to death in December, 1980, has called the work’s removal “disgraceful” and the reported reasoning behind the decision “preposterous.”

“It’s a sign of something very bad that’s happening in this country,” Leibovitz said in a formal statement released Wednesday. “The cultural atmosphere is becoming more and more conformist and cowardly.”

Ono, in Europe to prepare for an upcoming festival marking the 50th anniversary of Lennon’s birth, could not be reached for comment. But her publicist, Elliot Mintz, labeled the incident part of a “dangerous trend.”

“The issue at stake here, not unlike the Robert Mapplethorpe experience, is predicated on a simple hypothesis: Who chooses what we can and cannot look at? And my answer to that is: no one,” Mintz said Thursday.

A traveling exhibition of photographs by the late Mapplethorpe has become embroiled in controversy. The Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and its director, Dennis Barrie, have been indicted on misdemeanor obscenity charges for presenting the exhibit, which includes homoerotic images and photos of naked children.

Mapplethorpe’s works have also been at the center of debate over public funding of art that some deem offensive.

Trustees had been invited by curator Lloyd and center director Judith Peterson to preview the exhibit because of concern over another Leibovitz photograph of artist Keith Haring, who died in February. In the photo, Haring is nude though covered in body paint. It remained in the exhibit.

To curator Lloyd’s surprise, the Lennon/Ono photo became the target of objections. “This was absolutely the last piece I expected to have yanked from the show,” he said.

Lloyd said trustees were invited to preview the show as a courtesy.

“It started off as advice,” Lloyd said. “It ended up as curating.”

Since the controversy erupted, Lloyd has painted the issue as one of curatorial control. He said he feels the motion approved Thursday night establishes a bad precedent that will allow trustees to dictate the content of future shows.

The wording was drafted at a program committee meeting immediately preceding the trustees’ meeting. Lloyd said he had offered alternative wording but was turned down. While declining to provide the text of his suggested motion, he said he wanted the board to approve the show as it was originally curated and to recognize his authority to select works.