PRINT MEDIA AND PUBLIC REACTION TO THE CONTROVERSY OVER NEA FUNDING FOR MAPPLETHORPE,ROBERT THE PERFECT-MOMENT EXHIBIT

In 1989, Robert Mapplethorpe's photographic exhibit The Perfect Moment toured the country with the support of a $30,000 grant from the Natio nal Endowment for the Arts. The exhibit, which included several sado-m asochistic and homo-erotic photographs, drew the ire of the Reverend D onald Wildmon, who turned to Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). In the summer of 1989, Congress debated policy toward the finding practices of the NEA, sparking a major controversy in Congress and in the arts communit y. This study examines media coverage of the controversy and the react ion of the public in terms of museum at tendance and the value of Mapp lethorpe's art.