Taking down colonial art ‘is Taliban-like cancel culture’
A FRENCH cultural institution in Italy has been accused of ceding to “Talibanlike cancel culture” after raising questions about historic tapestries that portray colonial scenes.
The eight offending tapestries depict African figures, some of them slaves, against a tableau of palm trees, cavorting monkeys and exotic jungle birds.
They adorn the walls of Villa Medici, a huge 16th century property perched on a hill overlooking Rome that is home to the French Academy.
The tapestries, which have been in Rome since 1726, were inspired by a series of paintings that were given to Louis XIV, the “Sun King”.
The colonial nature of the tapestries has offended some of the young French artists who take up residence there each year. They complained the tapestries depicted “an imperialist culture” and a historical perspective “charged with exoticism”, claiming that they “celebrated European colonial violence and slavery”.
‘History is being exploited so that it becomes a moral weapon, dividing the good from the bad’
However, more than 150 art intellectuals drew up a petition, accusing the academy of dabbling with cancel culture.
They said the institution, founded in 1666 as a branch of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris, has submitted to the “intellectual terrorism of a Taliban-like minority working to undermine the Western world”.
“This type of political activism has the sole aim of incriminating the West,” Jérôme Delaplanche, a former director of art history at Villa Medici, told La Stampa newspaper.
“History is being exploited so that it becomes a moral weapon, dividing the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’. The objective of this post-colonial ideology is to condemn Europe’s wickedness.”
“The question is not if the tapestries will be taken down from the Grand Salon,” Sam Stourdzé, academy director, told The Art Newspaper. “They will be removed in January for restoration works which have been planned for some time. The question is, how should we decorate the Grand Salon after that? We need an open discussion.”