VA Library Moves Nude Painting Behind Stacks
RSSLaura B. Weiss -- School Library Journal, 08/17/2005
After a mother and tutor complained in July, Chesapeake Public Library in Virginia has moved a painting of a female nude from a place near the building's main entrance to a wall behind a row of stacks, the Norfold Virginia-Pilot reported July 29. Roughly 12,000 people walked past the piece, based on library estimates that a thousand people a day visit the building.
"Morning Dreamer" by local painter Karen Kinser was on display for two weeks before the mother and tutor complained that the painting was on view in a place where children could see it. The painting depicts a woman, one of whose breasts is visible, reclining in bed. Kinser has been showing her work for eight years at the library but it has never been objected to before.
"Why is one art-ignorant person allowed, and even encouraged, by the public library management, to dictate what should or should not be shown in our city's public library?" Kinser asked.
Kinser called the relocation censorship. A library official said she made a practical decision for a public facility funded by taxpayers' dollars.
Margaret Stillman, the library's director, loves Kinser's work. But she made the call to move the 16-by-18-inch painting on July 13.
