Art Market

A professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design says he’s been forced out for showing his students an artwork that some considered graphic.

Artsy Editors
Mar 31, 2018 2:00PM, via the Boston Globe

Experimental filmmaker Saul Levine is departing the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) following a firestorm of student complaints that emerged from a classroom screening of his 1989 film Notes After Long Silence, which contains footage of the artist nude and having sex with his partner. Levine, who has taught at MassArt for 39 years, appeared quite shaken up over the conflict in a 27-minute Facebook Live video. “The people in that room all agreed that I had committed sexual harassment by showing my class that film,” he stated in the video. “I thought I would show two of my own films that also deal a lot with editing structures and some of the issues I saw coming up in their films,” he explained. The artist’s departure follows the exit of photographer Nicholas Nixon, who decided to retire last week after receiving multiple Title IX allegations regarding sexually inappropriate behavior. A spokesperson for the school told the Boston Globe that Levine is expected to continue teaching through the current semester.

Artsy Editors