Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Scribbling graffiti on your own painting? It’s a Scream...
Labour’s Luke backs our bid
GRAFFITI on Edvard Munch’s
1893 masterpiece The Scream was added by the artist himself and by not vandals, experts say.
“Can only have been painted by a madman” is scribbled in pencil in the top left-hand corner of the painting, which shows a figure with its mouth agape. The image is now an iconic expression of anxiety.
The writing was added after Munch had completed the painting, but the person responsible has always been a mystery. The Scream was re-examined as it was being prepared for exhibition at the new National Museum of Norway, which is due to open in Oslo in 2022.
Curator Mai Britt Guleng said: “The writing is without a doubt Munch’s own. The handwriting, as well as events that happened in 1895 when Munch showed the painting in Norway for the first time, point in the same direction.
“It is likely Munch added the inscription in 1895 in response to the judgment on his work.”
LABOUR’S Shadow Environment Secretary is backing our Ban Puppy Imports campaign – as he urged the Government to end the vile trade.
MP Luke Pollard is supporting our fight to lift the import age of pups to six months, but accused ministers of “dragging their feet” and helping fuel a “dog abandonment catastrophe”. He said that, with “sky high demand” in lockdown, more pups are arriving from countries with endemic killer diseases, such as rabies.
He said: “There is an urgency to act on puppy smuggling, which is aided and encouraged by legal importation of motherless puppies from irresponsible breeders overseas, such as puppy farms. Penalties for engaging in these cruel practices are far too weak.”
Environment Minister Lord Goldsmith said last year he was looking at the “compelling” proposals.
Labour’s Baroness Sue Hayman said there is “wide concern at the lack of convictions”.
The Government currently advises that a puppy must be seen with its mother in the place it was born before being sold.
Increasing the age to six months would allow better protection against rabies.
Older pups’ adult teeth would be easier to identify at borders and they could better withstand long journeys.