A huge exhibition of gay art has finally found a home in Florence after clashes with Catholic politicians forced organisers to pull the plug on the same show in Milan earlier this year.
Over 200 works by 150 artists are on display in Florence's Palazzina Reale tracing connections between art and homosexuality from the birth of photography to the present day in the largest show of its kind ever held in Italy.
Among the works exhibited are a sadomasochistic portrait of a man in a gimp mask by controversial American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, drawings of heavily muscled men engaged in graphic sexual acts by fetish artist Tom of Finland, and a picture of two men kissing under a crucifix by British painter John Kirby.
The privately funded exhibition was originally set to open to the public at Milan's Palazzo della Ragione in July but stayed shut amid concerns about whether the works on display offended Catholics and were suitable for children.
Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti insisted on seeing each of the works to be included in the exhibition and drew up a blacklist of paintings and sculptures that had to be removed before it could open to the public.
But Milan Culture Councillor Vittorio Sgarbi and the show's organisers decided to scrap the exhibition altogether and move it to a different city rather than withdraw the contested works.
The show has opened in Florence uncensored, albeit without the official blessing of the city council.
''The public finally has the opportunity to judge for themselves what is perhaps the most contested exhibition of recent years,'' said curator Eugenio Viola at the show's inauguration.
''It's good news for freedom of expression and thought, and a happy epilogue to a difficult affair''.
Viola has based his selection of works on a common theme of expression rather than on the sexuality of the artists, who are both gay and straight.
''On the basis of that logic some works have an openly homoerotic content, while in others this expresses itself in a less obvious way through codes, symbols, allegories and metaphors,'' he explained.
The show takes in over 100 years of gay art, including black-and-white photography by German artist Wilhelm von Gloeden from 1900, balletic nudes by Bruce of Los Angeles from the 1950s, portraits of famous male torsos by American fashion photographer Herb Ritts from the 1980s, and a video installation by bald German couple Eva and Adele, self-proclaimed 'hermaphrodite twins', from the 1990s.
Other famous names include David Hockney, Keith Haring and Bruce Weber as well as the British royal family's favourite snapper Mario Testino.
Self-taught Italian artist Carol Rama is among the 20 women artists with works on display.
But the most likely crowd-pullers are two sculptures by young Italian artists that topped Moratti's blacklist in Milan: Paolo Schmidlin's Miss Kitty (2006) - the life-size replica of an ageing, semi-naked transvestite in a wig, white underpants and stockings bearing a strong resemblance to Pope Benedict XVI; and Paolo Cassara's Pieta' (2007), which portrays a latex-clad Virgin Mary cradling a blow-up doll in place of the baby Jesus.
'Art and Homosexuality - From Von Gloeden to Pierre et Gilles' runs at the Palazzina Reale in Florence until 6 January 2008.
