Critics have slammed a decision by one of Britain's top galleries to exhibit a photograph showing a naked 10-year-old Brooke Shields.
Family and religious groups have labelled the work "soft kiddy porn" and called for it to be banned from the Pop Life: Art In A Material World exhibition, which opens at London's Tate Modern gallery tomorrow.
The image shows the star naked from the knees up, oiled, wearing make-up and looking directly at the camera.
The portrait, by artist Richard Prince, is set to hang in a private room inside the gallery with a notice on the door warning visitors they may find the image "challenging", Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper reports.
The Tate Modern has admitted it sought legal advice before including the portrait in the exhibition.
It will feature alongside other artworks which include explicit depictions of sex acts and images from pornographic magazines.
The 1983 work is in fact a photograph of a photograph taken by another artist, Gary Gross — and it recently displayed at New York's Guggenheim.
The photo was said to have been taken with Shields' mother's permission, but family support was reportedly later withdrawn when Gross tried to have the portrait republished.
Prince describes his image as "an extremely complicated photo of a naked girl who looks like a boy made up to look like a woman."
But critics say the Tate's decision to display the picture will attract pedophiles.
"This is the kind of excuse people make for showing soft kiddy porn and I can't think anyone would want their child portrayed this way and I think it is obscene to do so," said Michele Elliott, head of children's charity Kidscape.
"Putting a sign on the door like that means every paedophile in the land will head straight to that room.
But a spokesman for the gallery said exhibition organisers had given it careful consideration.
"Tate has taken measures to inform visitors of the nature of the work, providing information outlining the intentions of the artist," he said.
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