The exhibition was shown in
New York City at the
Brooklyn Museum from 2 October 1999 to 9 January 2000. The New York show was met with instant protest, centering on
The Holy Virgin Mary by
Chris Ofili, which had not provoked this reaction in London. While the press reported that the piece was "smeared", "splattered" or "stained" with elephant dung,
[9][10] Ofili's work in fact showed a carefully rendered black Madonna decorated with a resin-covered lump of elephant dung. The figure is also surrounded by small collaged images of female genitalia from pornographic magazines; these seemed from a distance to be the traditional
cherubim.
New York Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani, who had seen the work in the catalogue but not in the show, called it "sick stuff" and threatened to withdraw the annual $7 million City Hall grant from the
Brooklyn Museum hosting the show, because "You don't have a right to government subsidy for desecrating somebody else's religion."
[6] Cardinal John O'Connor, the
Archbishop of New York, said, "one must ask if it is an attack on religion itself," and the president of America's biggest group of Orthodox Jews, Mandell Ganchrow, called it "deeply offensive".
[11] William A. Donohue, President of the
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said the work "induces revulsion".
[6] Giuliani started a lawsuit to evict the museum, and Arnold Lehman, the museum director, filed a federal lawsuit against Giuliani for a breach of the
First Amendment.
[11]
Hillary Clinton spoke up for the museum, as did the New York Civil Liberties Union.[12] The editorial board of The New York Times said, Giuliani's stance "promises to begin a new Ice Age in New York's cultural affairs." [13] The paper also carried a full-page advertisement in support signed by over 100 actors, writers and artists, including Susan Sarandon, Steve Martin, Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller, Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Sontag.[11] Ofili, who is Roman Catholic, said, "elephant dung in itself is quite a beautiful object."[11]
The
United States House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution to end federal funding for the museum on 3 October 1999, and New York City did stop funding to the Brooklyn Museum. On 1 November, federal judge
Nina Gershon ordered the City not only to restore the funding that was denied to the Museum, but also to refrain from continuing its ejectment action.
On 16 December 1999, a 72-year-old man was arrested for criminal mischief after smearing the Ofili painting with white paint, which was soon removed.
[14] The museum produced a yellow stamp, saying the artworks on show "may cause shock, vomiting, confusion, panic, euphoria and anxiety."
[11] and Ofili's painting was shown behind a Plexiglass screen, guarded by a museum attendant and an armed police officer.
[13] Jeffrey Hogrefe, art critic for the
New York Observer, commented about the museum, "They wanted to get some publicity and they got it.
I think it was pretty calculated."
[6] The editor-in-chief of the New York
Art & Auction magazine, Bruce Wolmer,said: "When the row eventually fades the only smile will be on the face of Charles Saatchi, a master self-promoter."
[11]
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