At London’s Tate Modern art gallery, a spotlight shines on a blank space where a photograph of a nude Brooke Shields, age 10, was supposed to hang. A sign warns, “This room contains images that some visitors may find challenging.” The museum removed the image this week just before a new exhibition on Pop art opened. The reason: an unexpected visit by police to check out the controversial image. The photograph, which shows the young Shields standing in a bathtub and wearing heavy makeup, was displayed recently in New York City and Paris without contest, but the prestigious modern-art museum in London has taken it down while police investigate whether it breaches British obscenity laws. “The officers have specialist experience in this field and are keen to work with gallery management to ensure that they do not inadvertently break the law or cause any offense to their visitors,” London’s Metropolitan police said in a statement.
