Sensation (art exhibition)

'': 1995 depiction of the child killer Myra Hindley by the YBA Marcus Harvey|left The artworks in Sensation were from the collection of Charles Saatchi, a leading collector, advertising mogul and publiciser of contemporary art. Norman Rosenthal, the Royal Academy of Arts exhibitions secretary, helped to stage the 116 works by 42 different artists on view. (110 are in the catalogue, with differences between that and the exhibition checklist.) Many of the pieces had already become famous, or notorious, with the British public (for example, Damien Hirst's shark suspended in formaldehyde titled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, Tracey Emin's tent titled Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995), Marc Quinn's self-portrait (a frozen head made from pints of his own blood) and Sarah Lucas's explicitly sexual images and sculptures. Others had already achieved prominence in other ways, such as a successful advertising campaign using an idea from Gillian Wearing's photographs. Sensation was the first time that a wide audience had had the chance to see these works en masse. The Royal Academy posted this disclaimer to visitors on entry: ==London==

, London|306x306pxThe opening of Sensation at the Royal Academy of Arts caused a public furore and a media frenzy, with both broadsheet and tabloid journalists falling over themselves to comment on the show's controversial images, and unprecedented crowds queuing up to see for themselves what all the fuss was about. Around a quarter of the RA's 80 academicians gave a warning that the exhibition was inflammatory. They and some members of the public complained about several other exhibits, notably the installations by Jake and Dinos Chapman, which were of child mannequins with noses replaced by penises and mouths in the form of an anus. However, the biggest media controversy was over Myra, an image of the murderer Myra Hindley by Marcus Harvey. The Mothers Against Murder and Aggression protest group picketed the show, accompanied by Winnie Johnson, the mother of one of Hindley's victims. They asked for the portrait, which is made up of hundreds of copies of a child's handprint, to be excluded to protect Johnson's feelings. Along with supporters she picketed the show's first day. Myra Hindley sent a letter from jail suggesting that her portrait be removed from the exhibition, reasoning that such action was necessary because the work was "a sole disregard not only for the emotional pain and trauma that would inevitably be experienced by the families of the Moors victims but also the families of any child victim." Despite all the protest the painting remained hanging. Windows at Burlington House, the academy's home, were smashed and two demonstrators hurled ink and eggs at the picture as a result, requiring it to be removed and restored. It was put back on display behind Perspex and guarded by security men. In a press conference on 16 September 1997, David Gordon, Secretary of the Royal Academy commented on the controversial portrait: "The majority view inside the Academy was that millions and millions of images of Myra Hindley have been reproduced in newspapers and magazines. Books have been written about the murders. Television programmes have been made. Hindley's image is in the public domain; part of our consciousness; an awful part of our recent social history; a legitimate subject for journalism – and for art."The show was extremely popular with the general public, attracting over 300,000 visitors during its run, ==Berlin==

Sensation was shown at the Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof museum (30 September 1998 – 30 January 1999) and proved so popular that it was extended past its original closing date of 28 December 1998. For art critic Nicola Kuhn from Der Tagesspiegel, there was "no sensation about Sensation". She claimed that the Berlin audience found the yBa's work "more sad and serious than irreverent, funny and dazzling" ==New York City==

The exhibition was shown in New York City at the Brooklyn Museum from 2 October 1999 to 9 January 2000. The New York City show was met with instant protest, centering on The Holy Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili, which had not provoked this reaction in London. While the press reported that the piece was "smeared", "splattered", or "stained" with elephant dung, Ofili's work in fact showed a carefully rendered black Madonna decorated with a resin-covered lump of elephant dung. The figure is also surrounded by small collaged images of female genitalia from pornographic magazines; these seemed from a distance to be the traditional cherubim. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who had seen the work in the catalogue but not in the show, called it "sick stuff" and threatened to withdraw the annual $7 million City Hall grant from the Brooklyn Museum hosting the show, because "[y]ou don't have a right to government subsidy for desecrating somebody else's religion." William A. Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said the work "induces revulsion". The editorial board of The New York Times said, Giuliani's stance "promises to begin a new Ice Age in New York's cultural affairs." The paper also carried a full-page advertisement in support signed by over 100 actors, writers and artists, including Susan Sarandon, Steve Martin, Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller, Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Sontag. The museum produced a yellow stamp, saying the artworks on show "may cause shock, vomiting, confusion, panic, euphoria and anxiety." ==Australia==

The show was scheduled to open in June 1999 at the National Gallery of Australia, but was cancelled with the director, Brian Kennedy, saying that, although it was due to be funded by the Australian government, it was "too close to the market" since finance for the Brooklyn exhibition included $160,000 from Saatchi, who owned the work; $50,000 from Christie's, who had sold work for Saatchi; and $10,000 from dealers of many of the artists. Kennedy said he was unaware of this when he accepted the show. Saatchi's contribution, the largest single one, was not disclosed by the Brooklyn Museum, until it appeared in court documents. Similarly, when the show opened in London at the Royal Academy, there had been criticisms that it would raise the value of the work. ==Artists exhibited in Sensation==

YBAs Other artists from the Saatchi collection ==Installation photos from the Brooklyn Museum Archive==

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