UK Gallery Displays Prostitutes of Amsterdam’s Red Light District

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The National Gallery in London has displayed a seedy reconstruction of Amsterdam's Red Light District in a rare venture into modern installation art. At a press preview on Tuesday, curator Colin Wiggins defended the decision to feature the setting which recreates a street and buildings covered in dirt. There the models of scantily clad women are displayed in windows. Colin also described the links between the piece and famous Dutch paintings from the 17th century that belong to the gallery's permanent collection. Wiggins also argued that the filthy subject matter, portrayed in all its “squalor,” was not as out of place at the National Gallery as visitors may initially think. Colin said, "This is like walking into a 17th century Dutch painting of Amsterdam". He added, "We have pictures of gang rape, we have pictures of incest, we have pictures of murder and torture and mutilation, but because people put them in gold frames and cover them in varnish … they're safe, they're tame." The entire plan of this art display has been done by Ed and Nancy Kienholz's. The exhibition "The Hoerengracht" was announced last year and it can be considered as a much awaited event of The National Gallery this year. Ed Kienholz was already famous for installations that were controversial for tackling subjects including mental illness, abortion and the sex trade. The National Gallery director, Mr. Nicholas Penny said, "It is an extremely serious exhibition and it does not in any way glamorize or romanticize prostitution". He added, "I also think the connections with traditional art in the National Gallery are very genuine ones."