Instagram ban of Imogen Cunningham nude photos stuns Boston museum

Social media company Instagrampulled photos by U.S. photographer Imogen Cunningham promotingan exhibit at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, saying they violateddecency standards, even as parent company Facebook Inc.faces criticism for users' live videos of murder.

At issue were posts of 1920s black-and-white photos by Cunningham depicting close-ups of a naked women's torso, whichturn the body into an almost abstract shape, and a 1974 photo ofCunningham at the age of 91 gazing around a tree trunk at one ofher favourite models, who is shown nude.

"This startled us," Karen Haas, the museum's curator of photographs, said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

"Here isthis artist who has been dead for a long time, who had thisseven-decade career, who fought the fight to have photographyconsidered as fine art along with her contemporaries so longago, and we felt this fight was long since over."

Here isthis artist who has been dead for a long time, who had thisseven-decade career, who fought the fight to have photography considered as fine art alongwith her contemporaries so longago, and we felt this fight was long since over.- KarenHaas, curator

The 140-year-old art museum is one of the largest in theUnited States.

Instagram took down two of Cunningham's images: Triangles,depicting a close-up of a woman's breast, and Sunbath (Alta onthe Beach).It also removed Judy Dater's 1974 Imogen andTwinka.

This comes as social media companies are encountering criticism after users posted live videos of violence. This weeka Thai man broadcast himself killing his 11-month-old daughter,and earlier this month a man posted a video of himself murderingan elderly man in Cleveland. Both videos were posted toFacebook.

• Facebook reviewing reporting practices after killing posted online

Facebook officials did not respond to a request for commenton Wednesday.

Instagram's online guidelines say the service does not allow photos depicting nudity, even if they are "artistic or creativein nature," and that it prohibits "some photos of femalenipples." The site says it does allow photos of post-mastectomyscarring and women breastfeeding, as well as of paintings andsculptures depicting nudity.

The Boston Globe first reported the controversy.

Cunningham, who lived from 1883 through 1976 and is bestwork for her 1920s close-ups of flowers, is regarded as apioneer in American photography.

Like other museums, the MFA regards Instagram and othersocial media platforms as a way to attract visitors and expandtheir educational reach, said spokeswoman Karen Franscona.