Wednesday, 14 March 2001
The museum world's leading body said yesterday that last week's police raid on the Saatchi Gallery in London had serious implications for art collections throughout Britain.
The museum world's leading body said yesterday that last week's police raid on the Saatchi Gallery in London had serious implications for art collections throughout Britain.
As other galleries monitored the case, police said they would take no further action against the gallery until the Crown Prosecution Service decided whether it would prosecute. Mark Taylor, the director of the Museums Association, which represents nearly all museums and their staff, said it may have to issue advice to members for the first time if the Saatchi case ended in court.
The Saatchi Gallery, which is owned by the advertising mogul Charles Saatchi, has been told it faces prosecution under the 1978 Protection of Children Act because of images of naked children in its current exhibition, I Am a Camera.
A file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service by Scotland Yard's obscene publications unit and is being considered. Mr Taylor said his organisation had no existing guidelines on such issues but would have to consider issuing advice if the Saatchi display was found guilty of offences.
He said: "You have to say, if those pictures are obscene, it doesn't say much for some of the naked bodies in the National Gallery. This potential threat is very odd and, if it is followed through, then it would mean a lot of pictures being taken off the wall, which is presumably not what the authorities want."
Jenny Blyth, the gallery's curator, said it would not remove the pictures. Mr Saatchi refused to comment yesterday.
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