Image courtesy of Pornhub
Hoping to spread an appreciation for the arts to the loins, Pornhub debuted a
Classic Nudes series showcasing sexual aspects—along with NSFW art tours—of the world’s most famous museums. It has since pulled down some of the footage following complaints from the Louvre in Paris, France, and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
A Pornhub spokesperson told
DesignTAXI back in July that, after over a year of closures across cultural institutions, the adult content platform “wanted to do its part in stimulating the public to visit, explore and fall back in love (or lust) with [them].” Viewers would be able to explore individual museums and jump right into artistic interpretations of the naked body, as well as listen to an interactive “oral history” of erotic artworks.
According to Dazed, the Louvre revealed last month that “Pornhub has heard from our lawyers” and that “we expect the works to be removed at once.”
Meanwhile, the Uffizi vilified the stunt as “totally illegal,” citing the country’s cultural heritage code that requires authorization for the use of images, “which… would hardly have been issued in this case.” It has also threatened to take legal action on Pornhub for the appropriation.
In total, Pornhub has withdrawn digital reproductions of artworks from the Louvre, the Uffizi, and the Prado museum in Madrid, Spain. Still up and running are smutty studies of exhibits from New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paris’ Musée d’Orsay, and the UK National Gallery.
Although the latter denies involvement in any way with the
Classic Nudes project, the National Gallery
confirms that it “will not be taking any action” against Pornhub.
[via
Dazed and
The Art Newspaper, cover image courtesy of
Pornhub]