page_title: Sensation (art exhibition)
section_title: London
hierarchical_section_title: Sensation (art exhibition) / London
caption_attribution_description: photo taken by lonpicman Burlington House Piccadilly London View of Courtyard
context_page_description: Sensation was an exhibition of the collection of contemporary art owned by Charles Saatchi, including many works by Young British Artists, which first took place 18 September – 28 December 1997 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The exhibition later toured to the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. A proposed showing at the National Gallery of Australia was cancelled when the gallery's director decided the exhibition was "too close to the market."
  The show generated controversy in London and New York City due to the inclusion of images of Myra Hindley and the Virgin Mary. It was criticised by New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and others for attempting to boost the value of the work by showing it in institutions and public museums.
context_section_description: The 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, helped by the media attention which the strong subject matter had received.  The BBC described it as "gory images of dismembered limbs and explicit pornography".
caption: Royal Academy of Arts, London
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