Gallery Acquitted in Mapplethorpe Obscenity Trial

CINCINNATI — A jury today acquitted an art gallery and its director on obscenity charges for exhibiting sexually graphic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.

Dennis Barrie, director of the Contemporary Arts Center, smiled as the verdict was read. Spectators in the courtroom shouted and applauded, and Barrie hugged his lawyers.

A jury of four men and four women returned the verdicts of innocent after only a few hours’ deliberation in the nation’s first obscenity trial of an art institution.

The gallery and Barrie were acquitted on misdemeanor charges of pandering obscenity and using children in nudity-related material. Barrie could have been sentenced to one year in jail and fined $2,000, and the gallery fined $10,000, if convicted on both counts.

The misdemeanor charges stemmed from the exhibit “Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment,” which appeared in Cincinnati for seven weeks last spring.

Frank Prouty, an assistant city prosecutor, said in his closing argument that five photos depicting graphic sex acts involving men and two that showed children with their genitals exposed were enough for convictions. The charges were based on those seven pictures in the 175-photo exhibit.