 Art experts have defended the frog sculpture described by the Pope as "blasphemous".
August 29, 2008 8:29 AM
By Philip Pullella
ROME - An Italian museum has defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.
The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.
Museum president Alois Lageder told Reuters the decision to keep the statue on display was made in order to "safeguard the autonomy of art institutions."
The board vote was 6-3 in favor. Art experts defended the
work.
"Art must always be free and the artist should not have any
restrictions on freedom of expression," Claudio Strinati, a
superintendent for Rome's state museums, said.
But Italy's culture minister, Sandro Bondi, said museums
that receive state funds should not "exalt artworks of
desecration, of useless provocation and of nonsense".
(Reuters Life!)
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