Last month, Pornhub introduced Classic Nudes – an interactive guide to sexually themed art seen in prominent museums across the world. After complaints from several major institutions including the Louvre, certain content has since been taken down.
The Pornhub project has been created with two goals in mind: to increase people’s museum visits after the pandemic has taken a toll on the industry, and to encourage the sex-obsessed to experience the arts in an innovative way. This guide is the latest in a series of initiatives by Pornhub to illustrate the connection between pornography and the arts. Following the publication of the Pornhub guide, the Uffizi has declared its intention to sue the adult site for copyright infringement. The Uffizi, in particular, takes issue with Pornhub’s usage of Titian’s famous Venus of Urbino (1538).
Bringing Art to Life
Hungarian-Italian porn star Cicciolina features in a SFW introduction film, and a virtual tour of each institution and where to discover the art itself forms the bulk of the “Classic Nudes” campaign. Pornhub amateur pair MySweetApple also bring six classic works to life in a series of NSFW films. The guide also features Pornhub brand ambassador Asa Akira offering an oral history of 30 erotic art pieces.
Hypebeast reported,
“There’s a treasure trove of erotic art around the world – depicting nudes, orgies, and more – that’s not available on Pornhub. These pre-Internet art pieces are currently sitting in museums, which we are now finally able to start visiting again as covid restrictions are starting to lift,”
said Asa Akira, Pornhub Brand Ambassador.
“So as people start to head back to The Louvre or The MET, they can simply open Classic Nudes, and I’ll be their guide. Time to ditch those boring self-tour recordings and enjoy every single brushstroke of these erotic masterpieces with me.”
Taking Action
The Louvre, alongside the Uffizi Gallery, is taking action against Pornhub. This is for the use of a 16th-century painting Gabrielle d’Estrees and One of Her Sisters (ca. 1594). Also taking action is the Prado Museum; for use of the use of works in their collection – including Francisco de Goya’s La Maja Desnuda (ca. 1797–1800). Works from Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the National Gallery in London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York still feature in the guide.
Since the launch of “Classic Nudes”, Pornhub states that this project can help museums to recover from the financial toll of the covid epidemic. Pornhub explains that by captivating viewers via their erotic art guide, more people will visit and support these historic institutions.
“With museums finally reopening around the world as pandemic restrictions are being lifted, Pornhub wanted to do its part in stimulating the public to visit…
Explore and fall back in love (or lust) with these cultural institutions.’
It added: ‘The online portal guides visitors past the SFW masterpieces and gets right to the good stuff… Representations of the naked body in all its artistic glory.'”
Source: The Guardian
Pornhub first developed the guide as part of a year-long campaign to highlight the relationship between pornography and the arts. Pornhub has also been working with artificial intelligence experts to restore centuries-old sexual films in the “Remastered” campaign since May.
For an extra-curricular lesson in the sexually explicit arts, set aside some time via the guide, here.
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