U.S. Bans Paintings By Wife Of Diplomat

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30882, 15 October 1965, Page 18

U.S. Bans Paintings By Wife Of Diplomat

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright)

WASHINGTON, October 13.

Nine paintings by a surrealist, Maria de Matteis, wife of a high-ranking Belgian diplomat, have been banned by the State Department—and the incident is causing a minor diplomatic headache to the United States.

American officials confirmed reports that the paintings were taken into hiding from a special exhibition of Miss de Matteis’s works which opened in the State Department exhibition hall last week.

They declined further comment, as did the official spokesman of the Belgian Embassy. Miss de Matteis, as she is known professionally, is married to Mr Herman Noppen, First Secretary at the Embassy. But informed sources said

the nine paintings were removed—one by one—as high ranking department officials stopped in front and gasped at what they considered too vulgar a display of the human anatomy.

Thus the original 27 paintings in the exhibition were reduced to 18. Those removed carried titles like “Man With a Rose” and “Th? Birth of Venus.” Miss de Matteis was not available for comment, but the “Washington Post” today said she felt that her artistic reputation had been slurred. “I have not painted a sexual orgy or a Freudian history,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. "1 am quite a moral woman.

“Some people would want to put fig leaves on the nude men Michelangelo painted in the Sistine Chapel.” Spaak's Visit

The “Washington Post” also reported that the Belgian Embassy had been insisting that all paintings be brought back into place when Foreign Minister, Mr Paul-Henri Spaak, arrives for a visit

scheduled for earlier this month, but postponed because of the Belgian statesman’s illness.

The State Department spokesman, questioned about the matter at a press conference, said he would like to point out that “the department is a public office building and not an art gallery.” He added that the department maintained the right to “pass upon the suitability for display of exhibits ... in this office building,” The spokesman declined to say who arranged the exhibit but obviously the pictures were put on display because “the judgment was made that she (Miss de Matteis) is an artist of some talent.”