Giuliani’s Art Brush-Up Is Portrait of a War of Wills

It is a cultural clash underscored by the realities of politics.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s declaration of war on the Brooklyn Museum of Art over an exhibition containing a portrait of a black Virgin Mary with elephant dung on her breast has, not unexpectedly, caused a furor in the art world--with the museum’s trustees filing a 1st Amendment lawsuit.

Attacking the exhibition as an example of anti-Catholic bias, the mayor last week said he would cut off about $7 million in city funds for the museum. Municipal officials said they would cancel a $497,554 installment due on Friday. And now, adding to the pressure, the mayor Wednesday threatened to the cancel the lease on the museum’s imposing building near Prospect Park.

Museum lawyers retorted that they would go to court to get the money back.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday agreed to withhold federal funds to the museum unless the exhibition is canceled. In the last three years, the National Endowment for the Arts has given the Brooklyn museum $500,000.

“People can do what they want to do and they draw what they want to draw,” said Sen. Bob Smith (I-N.H.). “The government doesn’t have to fund this garbage.”

At the same time, Giuliani’s action has set off a political debate, with differing opinions over whether it will be a plus or minus in his expected Senate race with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While Mrs. Clinton has criticized Giuliani for “penalizing and possibly shutting down an entire museum,” she said that she would not go see the exhibition herself.

Her position was similar to that taken by Peter F. Vallone, the Democratic New York City Council president who also is a devout Catholic.

Catholic voters--particularly in upstate New York--are expected to be a key constituency in the Senate campaign.

David Garth, who ran the campaign that first brought Giuliani to City Hall, said he didn’t think the flap would hurt the mayor politically.

“I think that most people think the show is relatively disgusting, not the whole show, but the works [Giuliani] is criticizing. From that point of view, he did the right thing.”

But other consultants--while acknowledging that the mayor’s position should resonate with Catholic voters--see a downside.

“He loses in court, and it is another example of Rudy trashing the Bill of Rights,” said one veteran campaign expert who, citing the mayor’s well-known temper, declined to be identified. “It will reprise every other court battle. He has been sued successfully on 1st Amendment issues maybe a dozen or more times.”

For his part, the mayor denies any political motivation behind his decision to withdraw the funding.

“I haven’t been shy about engaging in controversies when I held deeply held views before,” said Giuliani, who is Catholic. “I am not going to be shy about doing it now.”

The painting, “The Holy Virgin Mary,” by Chris Ofili, is part of an exhibition called “Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection.”

Its owner, Charles Saatchi, is a prominent London advertising executive and patron of contemporary art.

The museum exhibition is being sponsored chiefly by Christie’s, the international auction house.

Until this week, other museums were slow to support the Brooklyn Museum of Art--one of the city’s oldest and most prestigious cultural institutions--in its fight with the mayor.

Some politicians attributed that caution to the fact that the Giuliani administration significantly funds other museums--as well as to the mayor’s penchant for not easily forgiving his opponents.

As the battle lines have been drawn, Giuliani has received backing from John Cardinal O’Connor, who said the exhibition--scheduled to open Saturday--showed disrespect for Roman Catholicism. The Orthodox Union, the nation’s biggest group of Orthodox Jewish organizations, also applauded the mayor’s remarks.

Former Mayor Edward I. Koch, a frequent critic of Giuliani, labeled the exhibition “ridiculous” but defended the right of the museum to hold it.

“What [Giuliani] is doing is violating the law,” Koch told Charlie Rose on public television. “He is bidding for the designation of the Conservative Party.”

Appearing with Koch, the museum’s lawyer, Floyd Abrams, accused the mayor of “punishing speech.”

“This is a serious exhibition done by artists who are well-respected,” Abrams added.

Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League, said his organization would hand out “vomit bags” at the museum when the exhibition opens on Saturday.

But some arts experts have said that two elements are being lost in the debate--the historic role of the museum as a cultural resource in Brooklyn, and the role of the mayor’s representative to the museum board.

“That representative is supposed to be attending meetings and reading the minutes,” said Ellen Liman, a painter who was chairwoman of the New York City Advisory Commission for Cultural Affairs in the administration of Giuliani’s predecessor, David N. Dinkins.

“That person could have alerted City Hall there was a problem and there could have been a private dialogue,” she said. “The fact this played out as it did was to the detriment of a fine institution.”