Wiped From Facebook, Vienna's Nude Art Moves to OnlyFans

City's tourism board speaks out on social media censorship
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 21, 2021 6:25 PM CDT

Have you checked out the Vienna tourism board's hot new account on adults-only OnlyFans? It's full of nudity, though of the century-old artistic kind. As the Guardian reports, Vienna museums have come up against bans and other forms of censure after sharing nude artworks on more traditional social media platforms. In an effort to fight back against this "new wave of prudishness," the tourism board has turned to OnlyFans, which allows sexually explicit material, where subscribers can fully view "provocative works" by Koloman Moser, Egon Schiele, Richard Gerstl, Amedeo Modigliani, and others, for the sale price of $3 per month (regularly $4.99), according to a statement.

The board teases some of the artworks on offer on the site in a promotional video, titled "Vienna strips on OnlyFans." "Want to see what the hand is squeezing here?" it asks alongside an image of a nude woman holding her breast. It also teases "unique assets" in Schiele's 1910 Seated Male Nude (Self-Portrait), displayed at Vienna's Leopold Museum. It had become "almost impossible" to use such explicit art in promoting the city on social media, board rep Helena Hartlauer tells the Guardian. For instance, a video issued for the Leopold's 20th anniversary in September, featuring Moser's 1913 Liebespaar, a depiction of nude lovers, was flagged by Facebook as "potentially pornographic," per Art News.

Similarly, Vienna's Albertina Museum had its TikTok account banned in July after it showed artwork featuring "an obscured female breast," per the Guardian. "It's unfair and frustrating" as "these artworks are crucial and important to Vienna," says Hartlauer. "Vienna has always been famous for being open-minded" and "we want to stand up for our values and our beliefs." Therefore, the account is meant to show off the artwork but also to raise questions about censorship standards, Hartlauer says. She adds the fact that Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have rejected links to the account "shows us again that this is the right question to be asking." (More OnlyFans stories.)

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