London: Royal Academy of Arts, Sept. 17 - Dec. 28, 1997
New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 1999 - Jan. 9, 2000

The Sensation shows in London and New York were sources of intense controversy or noisy hype, depending on your point of view, but they certainly succeeded in sparking some of the most serious debates on the role of art in society in recent years.

In London, the lightning rod for controversy was Marcus Harvey's portrait of notorious child murderer Myra Hindley, done Chuck Close-style using hundreds of children's handprints. This piece was physically attacked at least twice: once it was pelted with eggs and on another occasion it had ink thrown at it. (Harvey's approach to conservation is worth noting: he cleaned the stains off the painting with a scouring pad.)

When the show came to New York, public fury centered around Chris Ofili's painting The Holy Virgin Mary, which portrays an African Madonna and is accessorized by a clump of elephant dung. A good summary of the way the controversy raged in the American press can be found here.

"Britart" stars whose work appeared in the show included Jenny Saville, Damien Hirst, Gillian Wearing, Rachel Whiteread and Tracey Emin.

In retrospect, it's undoubtedly significant that Charles Saatchi made his fortune in advertising. Sensation was a huge success which brought in millions of dollars in revenue, and generated many more millions worth of free publicity for Saatchi and his artists, not to mention the many politicians, pundits and critics who waded into the debate on "decency" vs. free speech.  

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