How 'Piss Christ' Ignited America's Culture Wars
A critique of Isaac Butler's 'The Perfect Moment' examines Andres Serrano's controversial 1987 image 'Piss Christ,' which portrays a crucifix submerged in urine and sparked the culture wars in America. Serrano, who was born in 1950, intended the work as part of a series utilizing bodily fluids rather than as a political statement. The photograph first appeared at Stux Gallery in 1987 but drew significant scrutiny following a 1989 letter from Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association, which incited conservative outrage. Senators Alfonse D'Amato and Jesse Helms denounced the piece, resulting in the Corcoran Gallery's decision to cancel Robert Mapplethorpe's retrospective in June 1989. The NEA ceased individual grants in 1994, and in 1998, the Supreme Court affirmed decency standards. Butler posits that this conflict illustrated a class struggle within the Republican Party.
Key facts
- Andres Serrano created 'Piss Christ' in 1987.
- The photograph shows a crucifix immersed in urine.
- Serrano was born in 1950 and raised Catholic in Williamsburg.
- He married artist Julie Ault, co-founder of Group Material.
- The work was first shown at Stux Gallery in 1987.
- Serrano won a $15,000 SECCA fellowship in 1988, partly NEA-funded.
- Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association led protests in 1989.
- Senator Jesse Helms called Serrano 'a jerk' on the Senate floor.
- The Corcoran Gallery canceled Mapplethorpe's show in June 1989.
- NEA chair John Frohnmayer was fired in 1992 after Buchanan's primary challenge.
- The NEA ended individual artist grants in 1994.
- The Supreme Court upheld decency standards for NEA grants in 1998.
Entities
Artists
- Andres Serrano
- Julie Ault
- Barbara Kruger
- Jenny Holzer
- Richard Prince
- Nan Goldin
- Jeff Wall
- Robert Mapplethorpe
- Patti Smith
- Lisa Lyon
- Annie Sprinkle
- David Wojnarowicz
- Karen Finley
- Holly Hughes
- Tim Miller
- John Fleck
- Marlon Riggs
- Richard Serra
- Salman Rushdie
- Jackson Pollock
- Andy Warhol
- Marcel Duchamp
- Yves Klein
- Anselm Kiefer
- Paul Gauguin
- Claude Monet
- Luis Buñuel
- Wendy Steiner
- James Davison Hunter
- Daniel T. Rodgers
- Andrew Hartman
- Isaac Butler
- John Frohnmayer
- David Frohnmayer
- Donald Wildmon
- Alfonse D'Amato
- Jesse Helms
- Slade Gorton
- Pat Buchanan
- George H. W. Bush
- Barbara Bush
- Dan Quayle
- Michael Dukakis
- Bill Clinton
- David Souter
- Lynne Cheney
- William Olander
Institutions
- New Museum of Contemporary Art
- Stux Gallery
- Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA)
- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Richmond Times-Dispatch
- American Family Association
- Corcoran Gallery of Art
- Washington Project for the Arts
- Group Material
- Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati)
- Brooklyn Museum Art School
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- 4th Street Photo Gallery
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Republican National Convention
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- The New Yorker
Locations
- Williamsburg
- New York City
- United States
- Winston-Salem
- North Carolina
- Richmond
- Virginia
- Washington, D.C.
- Cincinnati
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Mississippi
- New Hampshire
- Germany
- Bowery
- Lower East Side
- Spring Street
- Foley Federal Plaza
- 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue