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Society's horrified reaction has plenty of precedent as well. In Leviticus, God tells Moses: "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you." And John Bulwer's Anthropometamorphosis, Man Transformed or, the Artificial Changeling, Historically Presented, a Puritan diatribe published in 1653, railed against disfigurement of the body in pursuit of "ridiculous beauty," "filthy fineness" and "loathesome loveliness."
The latter is included in the American Museum show, which runs through May, along with photos, paintings and artifacts such as textiles and carvings that replicate body decorations. Schildkrout hopes visitors will come away from the exhibition understanding that "everyone does body art in one form or another. It's just the conventions that change."
--Reported by Andrea Dorfman/ New York and James L. Graff/Brussels