Arnold Reisman - Mapplethorpe Exhibition Obscenity Trial

Mapplethorpe Exhibition Obscenity Trial

During the 1990 obscenity trial of Dennis Barrie, then director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, for displaying controversial photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, Reisman was called as the only expert witness for the prosecution. In the previous year, Reisman had authored an editorial in The Washington Times titled "Promoting Child Abuse as Art" which "accused Mapplethorpe of being both a Nazi and a child molester". The defense argued that she was not qualified as an art expert, but the judge allowed her to testify as a rebuttal witness. Among her credentials as a media specialist she listed: "preparation of educational videotapes and slide presentations for the Smithsonian Institution worked for Scholastic magazine, created audio-visual segments for television's 'Captain Kangaroo' show, and did research for Attorney General Edwin Meese's commission on pornography and for the conservative American Family Association." During her testimony, Reisman did not discuss the sexually explicit content of Mapplethorpe's work, but rather argued that the five photographs were not works of art because they either did not display a human face, or, in the case of Self-Portrait, the face "...displayed no discernible emotion" and absent emotion, the placement of the photographs in a museum implied that the activities displayed were appropriate. During cross-examination by the defense on her views of homosexuality, Reisman testified that "anal sodomy is traumatically dysfunctional and is definitely associated with AIDS." She also claimed that the pictures of nude children legitimized pedophilia. The defense emphasized that Reisman's experience with art was limited to her work as a songwriter. Barrie and the Center were ultimately acquitted of all charges by the jury.