Call it a tempest in a bikini top. When Olaf Breuning's sand sculpture of a reclining woman was first proposed for Art Basel's Art Projects series in September, Miami Beach officials were so concerned by the depiction of her ample and amply revealed upper body that they asked that she be covered up. With a bikini top.

Never mind that the stretch of public beach where the sculpture is placed, south of 17th Street behind the Sagamore Hotel, frequently has real topless women. Or that people attending Art Basel, the global contemporary art fair, would be much less perturbed by a female nude than by the notion that government officials would ask an artist to change his work.

''The suggestion was that it being a public beach, it get a bikini top,'' Max Sklar, director of tourism and cultural development for Miami Beach, said Tuesday. ``There's sensitivities that there are a lot of families with children around there.''

Sklar said his department asked management at the Sagamore, which commissioned the sculpture, to ask Breuning to cover the possibly offending bosoms, and were told that he had agreed. 'If he said, `No, he didn't want to alter his piece,' it would have been fine,'' Sklar said.

It's unclear whether Breuning ever agreed to make the change. At midday Wednesday, his Untitled, approximately 30 feet long and 10 feet high, lay on her side, a thong-clad, grandly curving figure, somewhere between a magnificently endowed Botero and a three-dimensional Pop Art cartoon.

''We are certainly not telling them to take it down. At the end of the day, the artist wanted to retain his creativity and we have no problem with it,'' Sklar said.

There weren't many families at the beach on the chilly weekday, but the suggestion that the sculpture's semi-nudity was offensive provoked chuckles from those there. ''She looks natural,'' said Gisela Ocaña, visiting from Guatemala with her son Oscar, 15 -- who pronounced the sculpture ''pretty.'' His mother was unconcerned about his adolescent impressions. ''That kind of thing depends on the mind of the person who's looking,'' she said.

''I am totally not offended, but we're from Europe,'' said Ane Forfang, visiting from Sweden with Patrik Larsson, who said he was surprised to hear that city officials had asked to change the sculpture. ''To me it doesn't match the profile of Miami, which is funky, sexy, with party appeal,'' Larsson said. ``I find it sort of amusing.''

Reached on his cellphone, Breuning was vague about whether he'd ever agreed to a complete bikini. ''I just thought it's nicer without,'' he said. ``It doesn't really matter. It would look the same -- it's still a woman with big breasts.''

Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@