Displaying items by tag: Photography Museum

Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al-Thani, the former minister of culture and heritage in Qatar, who spent more than $1bn (£630m) of the oil rich country's money on art, has died aged 48. A cousin of Qatar's current Emir, Sheikh Al-Thani was in charge of developing libraries and museums. According to "The Art Newspaper," between 1997 and 2005, he spent more than any other individual on art. Details of his death have not been announced.

His huge collection is spread across five existing and planned museums: the Museum of Islamic Art, the National Library, the Natural History Museum, a Photography Museum, and a museum for traditional textiles and clothing.

Fotografiska, the Swedish-based photography museum, says that it has been forced to censor images on its Facebook pages to avoid them being deleted by the social-media giant.

The museum, which is devoted to contemporary photography, is showing 200 works by Robert Mapplethorpe (until 2 October). His oeuvre presents difficulties because of its focus on the nude; according to the museum’s spokesman, Facebook “dislikes nakedness whether it is in paintings or photography”.

Fotografiska shows works by many challenging contemporary artists. “We do not warn people about entering certain rooms, but they have titles such as ‘Nude’ and ‘Sex’. We even show erect penises, but from an artistic point of view,” he said.

To promote its Mapplethorpe show, the museum is showing works on the website depicting nudity, but with the offending areas of the body covered by blue rectangles and white lettering–an obvious reference to Facebook’s corporate colours and logo. The text reads “Facebook-friendly square”.