The move by Bertrand Delanoe against influential American photographer Larry Clark has been branded 'backward and reactionary' by the French Human Rights League.
The show, Kiss The Past Hello, includes some graphic black and white images of teenagers kissing and fondling each other.
Mr Delanoe fears legal challenges if he lets minors into the exhibit by Clark, 67, who is also a filmmaker best known for his controversial 1995 film Kids with its raw portrayal of teens, sex and drugs.
A 2007 French law forbids showing pornographic images to minors under 18 and is punishable with up to three years' jail and a fine of £75,000.
But the cautious interpretation of the law has baffled many in a country where bare breasts are not uncommon in mainstream advertising and soft-core porn is shown on television with a parental warning message.
Clark said: 'To forbid 16 or 17-year-olds from coming here and recognising themselves is ridiculous. I see this as an attack on youth, on teenagers. These photos are for them.'
The Liberation newspaper showed one of Clark's shots on its front page - a young naked couple embracing and visibly caressing each other's genetalia.
The exhibition is showing at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, which is run by city hall. The Greens party has asked the mayor to explain himself, calling the move 'censure.'
Delanoe defended his decision and added: 'What was easy (to show) 20 years ago causes problems today.'
In a letter to the Greens last week, he said a ban on youth was the only way ' to allow a great artist to show in a great Paris museum.
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