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No stranger to controversy, Ed Kienholz causes uproar in England

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The Los Angeles County Museum of Art recently acquired one of Ed Kienholz’s toughest sculptures, ‘The Illegal Operation,’ with the help of private donors who raised a whopping $1 million to buy it. Difficult as the subject matter is, the artwork is a landmark piece by a local hero, and everyone concerned seemed to think it belonged at LACMA.

The response to Kienholz is a little different in England. When the National Gallery in London released news of its upcoming exhibition of the ‘Hoerengracht’ (Whore’s Canal), a gritty installation by the late artist and his wife, Nancy Reddin Kienholz, the British media snapped to attention -- with a bit of attitude. After the London Standard broke the news, the Guardian huffed: ‘Never have its gracious enfilades and echoing halls witnessed anything like it: The National Gallery, repository of the nation’s finest Old Masters, is to re-create a red-light district, complete with scantily clad prostitutes, sinister alleyways and shop windows filled with human wares.’ The Independent asked: ‘Is the National Gallery prostituting itself?’

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While some critics fretted that the venerable institution was straying into the Tate Modern’s edgy territory, the BBC calmly reported that the gallery would not warn children against entering the installation and quoted NG educator Colin Wiggins: ‘If you look at the National Gallery as a whole, there are more things to warn against.’

-- Suzanne Muchnic

Photo caption: ‘The Illegal Operation’ is an indictment of back-street abortions. Photo credit: LACMA

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