Censor Battle Ends Show at Hancock
By Richard Phillips
Chicago Tribune, Saturday, June 4, 1977 Ð Section 1

A dispute over whether eight nude photographs should be included in an art exhibit in the John Hancock Center led to the cancellation of the entire show Friday.

The dispute began when artist Jane Wenger’s exhibit of eight self-photographs was abruptly removed from display in the second-floor lobby Thursday by a Hancock Center official.

The action by John Briggs, the center’s director of public relations, precipitated a storm of protest by other women artists whose works were also on display in the lobby. Several of the artists, members of Artemisia, a women’s art cooperative at 9 W. Hubbard St., then threatened to cancel the entire affair.

Briggs, insisting that “there’s no nudity allowed,” refused to relent, and the women removed their work Friday afternoon, abruptly ending an exhibit that was to run until June 30.

Wenger, 33, refused Briggs’ offer to replace the nude works with others, saying the photos had previously been considered tasteful enough for exhibition in a north suburban high school and several colleges.

The small photos consist of angle shots of Wenger’s nude body with clouds in the background.