"The photographs
of Barbara Nitke, which represent a form of extreme
sexual play, fall squarely within the boundaries
of high art.
The individuals who engage in such play
have found partners prepared to participate in forms
of mutual gratification in which one another's will
and dignity as human sexual beings are respected.
The parties have found ways of enacting fantasies
without exposing themselves to danger, and partners
who understand the limits within which their consent
is freely bestowed.
Everything from the choice
of film and setting, to the use of light and framing,
contributes to the power of these images to convey,
almost like dance, modes of erotic conduct that
derive from the deepest sources of the self."
Arthur
C. Danto, expert testimony in Nitke vs. Ashcroft
Art Critic, The Nation
Emeritus Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at
Columbia University
Author, Playing With the Edge: The Photographic
Achievement of Robert Mapplethorpe (University
of California)
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