Δυστυχώς όχι. Πριν ένα χρόνο περίπου πίνακας του Balthus έγινε
αντικείμενο μιας πολύ αμφιλεγόμενης συζήτησης που βάζει στο στόχο
τα όρια ελευθερίας της τέχνης.
Therese Dreaming, a 1938 painting by Balthus,
is the subject of debate at New York's Met museum
Η Mia Merrill, μάνατζερ στο τμήμα ανθρωπίνων πόρων σε εταιρεία του Μανχάταν, ξεκίνησε στο ίντερνετ ένα petition που ζητούσε από το μουσείο
Met Museum in New York να αποσύρει τον πίνακα γιατί κατά την άποψη
της Merrill ωραιοποιούσε την σεξουαλικοποίηση ενός παιδιού.
Μέσα σε μια εβδομάδα το petition είχε συγκεντρώσει γύρω στις 10.000 υπογραφές. Το MET αρνήθηκε να κατεβάσει τον πίνακα. Ευτυχώς.
Inside the Met Museum in New York
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is refusing to remove a controversial
80-year-old painting of a young girl from display, despite an online petition against the work gaining almost 10,000 signatures in less than a week.
80-year-old painting of a young girl from display, despite an online petition against the work gaining almost 10,000 signatures in less than a week.
Mia Merrill, a human resources manager at a Manhattan financial firm, started the petition against the work by Polish-French artist Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, known as Balthus.
The artist has long been controversial for his portraits of young girls in various states of undress.
It was his 1938 painting Therese Dreaming – which shows a 12-year-old girl wistfully looking up, her legs open and underwear visible – that prompted Ms Merrill to petition the museum to remove it from view, arguing that the Met
was promoting paedophilia.
was promoting paedophilia.
“I put together a petition asking the Met to take down a piece of art that is undeniably romanticizing the sexualization of a child,” she said, in a tweet.
“If you are a part of the #metoo movement or ever think about the implications of art on life, please support this effort.”
Ms Merrill said she was “shocked” to see the painting depicting a young girl
“in a sexually suggestive pose.”
Ms Merrill said she was “shocked” to see the painting depicting a young girl
“in a sexually suggestive pose.”
She added: “Given the current climate around sexual assault and allegations that become more public each day, in showcasing this work for the masses without providing any type of clarification, The Met is, perhaps unintentionally, supporting voyeurism and the objectification of children.”
She clarified that she was not calling for the painting to be destroyed, but just removed from view or given additional context.
“I would consider this petition a success if the Met included a message as brief as, ‘Some viewers find this piece offensive or disturbing, given Balthus’s artistic infatuation with young girls',” she added.
Balthus has long been known for his controversial subjects.
Balthus has long been known for his controversial subjects.
In a 2013 review of the Balthus show in The New Republic, critic Jed Perl
called Balthus the “last of the mystics who transformed twentieth-century art.”
called Balthus the “last of the mystics who transformed twentieth-century art.”
Perl said mystics are “by turns revered, reviled, demonized, and ignored - and at one point or another in his very long career Balthus was regarded in all of those ways.”
He wrote that these works “can be properly appreciated only when we accept them as unabashedly mystical, the flesh a symbol of the spirit, the girl’s dawning self-awareness an emblem of the artist’s engagement with the world.”
But Christian Viveros-Fauné, a New York-based Chilean art critic, went further, writing in The Village Voice in the same year that Balthus was “painting’s most memorable crotch-shot man”.
In a piece entitled "Ol' Dirty Master," he wrote: “The original upskirt artist, Balthus devoted a career to obsessively depicting female pubescent sexuality. Today, there is no question that Balthus was a paedophile.”
Yet the Met issued a statement in response to the petition, refusing to remove the work from display.
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s mission is to ‘…collect, study, conserve, and present significant works of art across all times and cultures in order to connect people to creativity, knowledge, and ideas.’
“Moments such as this provide an opportunity for conversation, and visual art
is one of the most significant means we have for reflecting on both the past
and the present, and encouraging the continuing evolution of existing culture through informed discussion and respect for creative expression.”
is one of the most significant means we have for reflecting on both the past
and the present, and encouraging the continuing evolution of existing culture through informed discussion and respect for creative expression.”
According to the Met’s description of the work, it depicts Balthus’s neighbor Thérèse Blanchard, who was about 12 or 13 at the time.
Thérèse Dreaming was donated to the Met in 1998.
It was originally purchased from the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York the same year it was painted for $438.40. It was bought by Soviet-born, Mexico-based art collectors Jacques and Natasha Gelman in 1979, and donated to the museum after her death in 1998, aged 86.
The painting has appeared in nearly two dozen gallery and museum shows throughout the US, as well as in London, Cologne, Marseilles, Mexico City,
Paris, Kyoto, and Tokyo.
6 DECEMBER 2017Paris, Kyoto, and Tokyo.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/06/new-yorks-met-museum
-refuses-remove-balthus-painting-despite/
When I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art this past weekend,
I was shocked to see a painting that depicts a young girl in a sexually suggestive pose. Balthus' painting, Thérèse Dreaming, is an evocative portrait of a prepubescent girl relaxing on a chair with her legs up and underwear exposed.
*It is disturbing that the Met would proudly display such an image. They are a renowned institution and one of the largest, most respected art museums in the United States. The artist of this painting, Balthus, had a noted infatuation with pubescent girls,
and it can be strongly argued that this painting romanticizes the sexualization of a child.
*In 2013, the Met hosted the exhibit "Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations," which included more of Balthus' overtly pedophilic work. As the Guardian wrote:
"The Met, not imprudently, has put a plaque at the start of the show that reads:
"Some of the paintings in this exhibition may be disturbing to some visitors."
If The Met had the wherewithal to reference the disturbing nature of Balthus for
this exhibit, they understand the implications of displaying his art as a part of
their permanent collection.
*Given the current climate around sexual assault and allegations that become more public each day, in showcasing this work for the masses without providing any type of clarification, The Met is, perhaps unintentionally, supporting voyeurism and the objectification of children.*I am not asking for this painting to be censored, destroyed or never seen again.
I am asking The Met to seriously consider the implications of hanging particular pieces
of art on their walls, and to be more conscientious in how they contextualize those pieces
to the masses.
This can be accomplished by either removing the...https://www.thepetitionsite.com/157/407/
182/metropolitan-museum-of-art-remove-balthus-suggestive-painting-of-a-pubescent
-girl-th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se-dreaming/?taf_id=46585122&cid=fb_na#bbfb=809455636
I was shocked to see a painting that depicts a young girl in a sexually suggestive pose. Balthus' painting, Thérèse Dreaming, is an evocative portrait of a prepubescent girl relaxing on a chair with her legs up and underwear exposed.
*It is disturbing that the Met would proudly display such an image. They are a renowned institution and one of the largest, most respected art museums in the United States. The artist of this painting, Balthus, had a noted infatuation with pubescent girls,
and it can be strongly argued that this painting romanticizes the sexualization of a child.
*In 2013, the Met hosted the exhibit "Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations," which included more of Balthus' overtly pedophilic work. As the Guardian wrote:
"The Met, not imprudently, has put a plaque at the start of the show that reads:
"Some of the paintings in this exhibition may be disturbing to some visitors."
If The Met had the wherewithal to reference the disturbing nature of Balthus for
this exhibit, they understand the implications of displaying his art as a part of
their permanent collection.
*Given the current climate around sexual assault and allegations that become more public each day, in showcasing this work for the masses without providing any type of clarification, The Met is, perhaps unintentionally, supporting voyeurism and the objectification of children.*I am not asking for this painting to be censored, destroyed or never seen again.
I am asking The Met to seriously consider the implications of hanging particular pieces
of art on their walls, and to be more conscientious in how they contextualize those pieces
to the masses.
This can be accomplished by either removing the...https://www.thepetitionsite.com/157/407/
182/metropolitan-museum-of-art-remove-balthus-suggestive-painting-of-a-pubescent
-girl-th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se-dreaming/?taf_id=46585122&cid=fb_na#bbfb=809455636
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