The final score was the ladies 3, the gentlemen 0 - the Erie Philharmonic's season-opening exhibition won't be including a painting depicting frontal male nudity after all - but three depicting female nudity will be there.
The watercolor "Nocturne 2" by Luke Gehring shows a nude male model sitting on a chair, next to a table set with candles and a bottle of water. During an open rehearsal Sept. 17, it was removed from the theater lobby. And, although the Erie Philharmonic raises money privately, its theater is a public facility - which has the Northwest PA Artists Association, whose art was featured in the exhibit, crying censorship.
But the orchestra's executive director told Freedom Forum he was only looking out for his "family event" audience when he pulled the painting.
