Sanxia museum to cover poster featuring nude painting after complaints

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) An art museum in New Taipei's Sanxia District on Wednesday said it will cover a large poster of a female nude painting following complaints from the parents of students at a nearby elementary school.

The Li Mei-shu Memorial Gallery put up the poster featuring late painter Lee Shih-chiao's (李石樵) 1936 painting "Reclining Nude" (橫臥裸婦) in a parking lot last week to advertise its latest exhibition, which commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Tai-Yang Art Association.

Complaints soon followed, with many coming from parents of students at the neighboring Anxi Elementary School.

In an interview on Wednesday, the school's principal, Chen Ching-yi (陳淨怡), told CNA that the poster had appeared "without warning" last Friday.

"The poster is directly across from where parents pick up and drop off their kids," Chen explained.

Parents spend a lot of time waiting there, and for that reason, some of the reactions were a bit strong, she said.

Chen said the school was "neutral" on the issue, though it would have benefited from having more time to prepare, in order to give students necessary guidance on the topic.

In response to the criticism, the museum issued a statement Tuesday evening on its Facebook page denying any sexual innuendo in the poster's use of the nude image alongside the first words of the exhibition's title (春色無邊--初代台陽人的春日和鳴), which can be translated as "The boundless colors of spring."

In Chinese, the word chūn sè (春色) can also have a sexual connotation.

The museum said it had chosen the name well in advance, and only confirmed it would receive the painting on loan a month before the exhibition opened.

Nevertheless, it decided to use the nude painting on the poster because it is "representative" of the exhibition, it said.

On Wednesday, the gallery's president Li Ching-wen (李景文) told CNA he planned to keep the poster up, but would cover the nude figure on it sometime before May 4 in order to quell the controversy.

In addition to covering the image, a QR code will also be added to the poster linking to a full introduction of the exhibition, Li said.

Li Mei-shu (李梅樹) and Lee Shih-chiao were part of a group of seven artists who founded the Tai-Yang Art Association in 1934, with the goal of developing modern art education in Taiwan.

Notably, Lee Shih-chiao's "Reclining Nude" was also banned from being displayed at the association's second fine arts exhibition in 1936, the year it was painted, by the Japanese colonial authorities after it was deemed "damaging to public morals."

Asked about the controversy, Pei-ni Beatrice Hsieh (謝佩霓), a curator and art critic, said people should be able to distinguish between works of art and pornography, based on the professionalism of the artist.

Hsieh said she was nevertheless shocked that an 88-year-old painting, which "has already entered the public domain and become a part of Taiwanese history," had caused such a stir.

"If even a piece by an iconic artist like this is questioned, what room does that leave for creativity?" she asked.