Officers scoured the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra in search of works by controversial photographer Bill Henson, one of the country’s most acclaimed and successful artists.
The confiscation of the photographs by police has caused a furor, with the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, describing them as “absolutely revolting”.
But many Australians said the police raid was a clumsy attempt at censorship and a
dangerous attack on freedom of expression which would embarrass the country internationally.
In a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, a former police superintendent and now art gallery owner said he was dismayed at “the purse-lipped paragons of public morality” who condemned Henson’s works as child pornography.
On Wednesday a group of leading writers and artists, including Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett, signed an open letter expressing dismay at the actions of police and the allegation that Henson was a pornographer.
The prospect of Henson, whose work has been shown in New York, Paris and at the Venice Biennale, being charged had done “untold damage to our cultural reputation”, the letter said.
Henson’s photographs were not titillating but part of an artistic tradition that stretched back to ancient Greece, Caravaggio and Michelangelo.
One of the few politicians willing to defend Henson was Malcolm Turnbull, a former head of the Australian Republican Movement and now the conservative opposition’s treasury spokesman.
He said he owned two of the artist’s works, but neither depicted naked teenagers.
“I don’t believe that we should have policemen invading art galleries. I think we have a culture of great artistic freedom in this country and I don’t believe the vice squad’s role is to go into art galleries,” said Mr Turnbull.
In addition to scrutinizing the National Gallery, police reportedly ordered a gallery in Newcastle, north of Sydney, not to exhibit two Henson photographs featuring nude teens, and descended on another gallery in the city of Albury.
Police have said they intend to prosecute Henson for obscenity but no charges have yet been laid.
The investigation has stalled because Henson has refused to reveal the identity of the girl he photographed nude for the exhibit.
The chief of police in New South Wales, Andrew Scipione, weighed into the debate, saying that as a father he strongly disapproved of the photographs.
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