“Entombment,” by the Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch. Museo Jumex in Mexico City has cancelled an exhibition of Mr. Nitsch’s work that was scheduled to open this week, saying that the artist’s disturbing oeuvre might upset Mexicans already alarmed by the bloodshed ravaging their country.rn
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Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this caption misidentified the painting. It is “Entombment,” not “The Last Supper.””
MEXICO CITY — Hermann Nitsch is hardly a stranger to controversy. This Austrian artist, whose notorious “actions” involve animal viscera and “crucified” participants bathed in blood, was arrested three times as a young man and expelled from Italy for disemboweling a sheep during a performance. But in all these years, Mr. Nitsch, 76, said in an interview, he has “never” had an institution cancel an exhibition of his work.
Until now. Anticipating that Mr. Nitsch’s disturbing oeuvre might upset Mexicans already alarmed by the bloodshed ravaging their country, the Museo Jumex (pronounced WHO-mex), which opened here in November 2013 with great fanfare, abruptly canceled an exhibition that was scheduled to open this week. The pre-emptive decision by the Jumex Foundation, which runs the museum, has been denounced by collectors, curators and art critics as an embarrassing act of censorship by a group striving to establish itself in the international art circuit.
“This is a different kind of shocking,” Mr. Nitsch said in an interview, referring to the decision three weeks ago to call off the show even as the works were en route by boat from Austria to Mexico. The show would have included works like “The Last Supper” (1983), a silk-screen depiction of Christ and the disciples as anatomical figures; canvases splattered with blood and black paint; and videos of past performances. Mr. Nitsch, who said he seeks to create an “intense” sensory experience but not provocation, had not planned live performances at the museum.
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Mr. Nitsch, who also writes cacophonous musical scores, said that Mexicans would still get a chance to sample his work at a performance of his new “Symphony for Mexico,” which will be played at the Ex Teresa Museum on Friday.
“Maybe they’ll understand me,” he said.
A version of this article appears in print on February 25, 2015, on page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Blood in the Street, Not on the Walls. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
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