Art and Politics

NEA Restrictions.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was established by Congress in 1965 to serve "the public good by nurturing human creativity, supporting community spirit, and fostering appreciation of the excellence and diversity of our nation's artistic accomplishments." Since then it has provided grants to artists, museums, and galleries to encourage artists whose work shows promise but is unlikely to attract large audiences or private funding. In May and June 1989 controversy erupted in Congress over NEA support for Andres Serrano, whose Piss Christ is a photograph of a crucifix immersed in Serrano's urine, and Robert Mapplethorpe, whose photographs included homoerotic and sadomasochistic images. On 12 June, fearful of a political battle over its federal funding, the Corcoran Museum in Washington, D.C., canceled Mapplethorpe's controversial show, The Perfect Moment, which had already been exhibited in...

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