Editor's note: The artwork, which can be seen lower in this column, may be offensive to some readers.

NEWARK — The painting that caused such a ruckus at the Newark Public Library is uncovered again, viewable by all, and the controversy around it gone.

You may remember a column last month about several staff members up in arms because they didn’t think the art was appropriate. They made such a fuss that it was covered up a day after being hung in the second-floor reference room.

The huge drawing was done by Kara Walker, a renowned African-American artist whose themes deal with race, gender, sexuality and violence. This piece shows the horrors of reconstruction, 20th-century Jim Crowism and hooded figures of the Ku Klux Klan.

The controversial part depicts a white man holding the head of a naked black woman to his groin, her back to the viewer.

Library director Wilma Grey didn’t think displaying the drawing was a problem, but she covered it with fabric after people complained — so all could take a breath and think this over. Walker wasn’t happy about doing it, neither was Scott London, a longtime art collector who loaned the piece to the library.

“I thought we were past that,’’ he said. “I was surprised.”

Since then, there has been a powwow. The shroud is gone and everyone can see it now.

Kendell Willis, an employee, said he had a better understanding of the library’s position after the meeting with officials.

“They said there are a lot of things in artwork we don’t want to talk about, and that made absolute sense,’’ he said.

That’s what they’ll do now. Grey and library trustees plan to invite Walker to talk about the work, artistic freedom and the role of black artists in society.

“The library should be a safe harbor for controversies of all types, and those controversies can be dealt with in the context of what is known about art, about literature, democracy and freedom,” said Clement A. Price, a library trustee and Rutgers history professor. “There’s no better venue in Newark where such a powerful and potential controversial drawing should be mounted.”

The irony here is the Newark Public Library in the 1950s covered a giant mural that was considered offensive. It showed male nudity in a painting by R.H. Ives Gammell. The painting, “The Fountain of Knowledge,” stayed hidden for 35 years until it was uncovered in the 1980s. It’s still there now, on the second floor.

Just as that mural rubbed folks the wrong way, Price said, the portrayal of the black American experience is a sensitive issue as well.

“Should we be depicted sentimentally, romantically?” he said. “Should some of the grotesque realities be depicted in art or movies?”

Walker, a recipient of the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” grant, used large black-paper silhouettes to get her point across when she debuted in 1994. Her work, some of it set in the antebellum South, has graphic racial stereotypes of atrocities African-Americans have suffered.

The piece at the library, however, may not have received such notoriety if Newark City Hall had space to hang it. London, a New York City resident, said an art consultant he works with offered the drawing to the mayor’s office first. He said the city wanted to display it, but officials told them they didn’t have room.

Enter the Newark Public Library, the next best place London felt was suited for such a piece.

When it was covered, he couldn’t believe it. But now that things have changed, London said it’s the best outcome, especially if Walker comes to talk about her work.

“Moreover, libraries have a view to the future; their custodians recognize that ideas that may be unpopular today may have influence tomorrow,” London said. “It is reassuring that the Newark Public Library chose to maintain and uphold this principle by unshrouding and continuing to showcase Ms. Walker’s drawing. It was not the easy thing to do.”

If you’re not doing anything, walk on over to the library. Leave a comment if you ‘d like. There’s a sheet underneath the drawing for your thoughts.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Censorship or common decency? Newark Library covers up controversial artwork

