Print Media and Public Reaction to the Controversy Over NEA Funding for Robert Mapplethorpe's “The Perfect Moment” Exhibit

Abstract

In 1989, Robert Mapplethorpe's photographic exhibit The Perfect Moment toured the country with the support of a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibit, which included several sado-masochistic and homo-erotic photographs, drew the ire of the Reverend Donald Wildmon, who turned to Senator Jesse Helms (R- NC). In the summer of 1989, Congress debated policy toward the funding practices of the NEA, sparking a major controversy in Congress and in the arts community. This study examines media coverage of the controversy and the reaction of the public in terms of museum attendance and the value of Mapplethorpe's art.