Facebook Censors Gerhard Richter Nude Painting

Tags: Censorship, Museums, Paris, Photography

A nude painting by artist Gerhard Richter was recently removed from the Pompidou Centre’s Facebook page on grounds that it violated the online company’s general conditions of use.

Facebook later restored the painting to the museum’s page and apologized for its removal, claiming that it had been confused for a photo and not a work of art, the latter of which is permitted. Their French PR agency placed a personal phone call to Gonzague Gauthier, the Pompidou’s digital project manager, extending their apology after Gauthier took to Twitter about the incident.

The painting was featured on the museum’s page as part of its Richter retrospective, running from June 6 – September 24. Before its removal, it had already received 1,300 “likes.”

This isn’t the first case of artistic censorship by the social networking site: they have previously disabled accounts of users who post Gustav Courbet‘s infamous provocation The Origins of the World (1866), part of the Musée d’Orsay‘s collection.

Facebook Censors Pompidou’s Gerhard Richter Nude, Fueling Fight Over “Institutional Puritanism” via ARTINFO 

Photo courtesy of ARTINFO