Parental complaints about nudity and homosexual imagery in an exhibit of Francis Bacon paintings meant Fort Worth schools canceling class trips to the Modern Art Museum.
Five school administrators reviewed the Bacon exhibit last week after parents of fifth-graders who saw the exhibit earlier that week complained, says the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The paper says future MAM exhibits will be screened by school district staffers before field trips are scheduled.
The Bacon exhibit features almost fifty paintings between 1933 and 1990. The acclaimed British artist died in 1992. His work usually featured dark, distorted human faces and figures, including nudes, with many paintings using agonized faces, jagged edges, and splashes of blood red coloring on dark backgrounds.
The field trip cancellations, though, angered other parents, the Star-Telegram says. One was quoted by the paper as saying the cancellations smack of censorship.
