Toymakers ditch 'decapitated Barbie' art work

A planned art work showing a decapitated Barbie will not feature in a charity exhibition celebrating the doll, toymakers Mattel vowed today.

A planned art work showing a decapitated Barbie will not feature in a charity exhibition celebrating the doll, toymakers Mattel vowed today.

Children's experts had called for the cancellation of the exhibition, hosted by Sir Elton John and Spice Girl Victoria Adams, after artist Marc Quinn announced his plans for a severed Barbie head covered in blood-red paint and impaled on a stick.

But Mattel, which manufactures the doll and invited artists to submit pieces to the Art of Barbie, said all works had to be suitable for children to view.

Sarah Allen, of Mattel UK, said the company had not been informed about Quinn's planned exhibit.She said: 'I don't even know if it has been made, but it clearly contravenes the conditions sent out to all the artists.

'If it does show a severed head, as described, it would clearly be unsuitable.'

The company said in a statement that Quinn had 'confirmed his commitment' to the exhibition, which marks Barbie's 40th anniversary.

It continued: 'He has yet to submit his piece and therefore Mattel UK has not been made aware that his creation was of such a disturbing nature.

'The suitability of each piece is judged individually to ensure that The Art of Barbie is suitable for Barbie fans young and old.'

The creation reflects the 35-year-old artist's best-known previous work,Self, which made Quinn's name in 1991, was a life-size cast of the artist's head made from, among other ingredients, eight pints of his own blood.

Quinn said his planned Barbie piece was meant to be 'light'.

'I'm chucking the rest of the body out,' he said. 'It's quite a light piece. You have to have a sense of humour.'

But educational psychologist John Acklaw said yesterday if the head was seen by children they would be 'horrified'.He said: 'In my opinion this would be a very disturbing image for children, particularly as it's to do with a doll they play with, that they use in everyday situations.

'I think it would be emotionally upsetting to say the least.

'It's Barbie's attraction to girls is that it's an image they would like to see themselves when they grow up - it has glamour, fashion.

'For girls to have that image destroyed, decapitated, would suggest this is what happens when they grow up?

David Furnish, Sir Elton John's companion, said the exhibition was planned to be about Barbie 'as an icon'.'We want the artists to respect Barbie as a figure,' he said. 'It's a child's toy and we want them to embrace the spirit of the doll as it was created, not denigrate the image.'

The exhibition is also expected to feature a Barbie entombed in a concrete block.

Mattel UK said today that work - by Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread - had already been submitted and approved.

The art works, created to benefit the Elton John Aids Foundation, will be unveiled after a charity dinner at the Natural History Museum in London on December 1, World Aids Day.