COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY GILANE TAWADROS IN THE
GUARDIAN
Removing nymphs from a
gallery is provocative – but does not merit contempt. In taking down a
mediocre, semi-pornographic Victorian painting, Manchester Art Gallery invited
public responses to a question that some critics do not want asked
"In taking down a
mediocre, semi-pornographic Victorian painting”
Well, I'm no great admirer of this kind of Victorian stuff,
but I think it quite wrong to call it "semi-pornographic."
My God, will Rodin or Renoir be next? I presume it is not
the pedigree of the artist but the subject matter at issue here.
This kind of painting does very much tell us something about
the society of its time.
My God, our problem in the world of human sexuality is
people who abuse their position of power over others - whether groping or
confining or raping or otherwise injuring - and people doing nothing about it.
It is not a naive painting of nymphs or anything else of the
kind.
And when it really counts - as in some widely discussed past
dark doings by figures in the national government, including by a former prime
minister - we remain largely a do-nothing society.
Anyone who has read history knows matters like pedophilia
and sexual abuse of people's own children have been, and almost certainly
remain, everyday events here or there. Historical names include some immensely
famous figures from Robert Hooke to Lord Byron.
