Friday, February 27, 2015

Pornography + Time = Art


For those of you who were home-schooled and are therefore deficient in art history -- especially this kind -- that is the Venus of Urbino by the great Renaissance painter Titian.

No less an art authority than Mark Twain himself called this painting, "the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses." Tongue fully in cheek, I presume...

I have actually seen this painting, with my own naked eyes, in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Yeah, I know: Place dropper.

BTW, Blogger says that as of March 23, all blogs containing "images and videos that are sexually explicit or show graphic nudity" will be banned.

While they do say they will "still allow nudity if the content offers a substantial public benefit. For example, in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts", that's some cold comfort -- it's not at all clear whether that ban will or will not include this picture. My first question is this: How will they know?

Stay tuned...

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