ART CENSORED, UNTIL OUTCRY LED TO ITS RETURN.
BRITISH GALLERY REMOVED AN 1896 PAINTING IT SAID WAS SEXIST, THEN PUT IT BACK
Britain’s Manchester Art Gallery took down a 19th- century painting they alleged was sexist, but the pre- Raphaelite masterpiece has been restored after a nationwide wave of criticism.
“As of this morning, following seven days in our art store, this important painting is back on display,” the gallery announced on the weekend.
Hylas and the Nymphs, painted in 1896 by the artist John William Waterhouse, depicts a story from Greek myth in which Hylas, one of Jason’s Argonauts, i s kidnapped by adolescent nymphs. It is one of the gallery’s most recognizable paintings.
“We picked it because it was a very popular painting and we knew it would get a response,” the gallery’s curator of contemporary art, Clare Gannaway, told BBC Radio earlier this month.
The painting had been placed in a section entitled In Pursuit of Beauty, and stood among a number of Victorian artworks depicting nude women.
The artworks in the section generally show women either as objects of beauty or dangerous temptresses. Previously, however, the gallery had simply tried to put these depictions within their historical context.
“The ‘ fatal woman’ may reflect late Victorian male fears as women campaigned for equal rights and new roles,” wrote the museum in a 2016 Instagram post.
Referring to the gallery’s collection of late- Victorian art, Gannaway added “the stories that are being told within that gallery are quite old- fashioned and actually perpetuate a lot of ideas about women’s bodies which are not very positive.”
The removal was suggested by contemporary artist Sonia Boyce, who is soon hosting an exhibition at the Manchester gallery. During the time the painting was down, postcards depicting it were also removed from the gallery’s gift shop.
“This gallery presents the female body as either a ‘passive decorative form’ or a ‘ femme fatale.’ Let’s challenge this Victorian fantasy!” read a sign placed where the painting used to hang.
Visitors were then invited to write their views about the missing painting on Post- it notes and stick them on the empty wall.
“Feminism gone mad! I’m ashamed to be a feminist!” read one. “Dear Mr/ Mrs Curator, where did you put my sexy booby woman painting?” read another.
In comments to The Guardian, Gannaway said the removal was in part a response to the #MeToo movement, a viral social media campaign to illustrate the widespread prevalence of workplace sexual harassment.
“For me personally, there is a sense of embarrassment that we haven’t dealt with it sooner,” she said.
Liz Prettejohn is a British art historian who has previously curated an exhibition of the works of John William Waterhouse. Speaking to the BBC, she noted the irony of modern curators somehow being more flustered by female nudity than the famously reserved Victorians for whom the painting was created.
“But here it would seem it’s us who are taking the roles of what we think of as the very moralistic Victorians,” she said.
The gallery never intended a permanent removal of the artwork. Rather, in their words, the highly publicized takedown was supposed to start a “conversation.”
Critics, however, have criticized the whole episode as a cynical bid to hijack the #MeToo movement for publicity.
“Not only ridiculous & com- pletely ahistorical, but actually borderline offensive to conflate this cheap publicity stunt with important # MeToo debates,” read a tweet by 19th- century cultural historian Anna Maria Barry.
British columnist Fraser Nelson, in turn, said the removal itself was its own work of art, “exposing how easy it is to wind people up in these modern manias.”
Galler y i nterim director Amanda Wallace told The Daily Mail the painting has opened a conversation.
“We were hoping the experiment would stimulate discussion, and it’s fair to say we’ve had that in spades — and not just from local people but from art lovers around the world.
“Throughout the painting’s seven- day absence, it’s been clear that many people feel very strongly about the issues raised, and we now plan to harness this strength of feeling for some further debate on these wider issues.”
Last year, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art received calls to remove Therese Dreaming, which features a 12- year- old girl sleeping with her legs open and underwear visible. A petition to remove the work by the Polish- French artist Balthus because it romanticized “the sexualisation of a child” attracted 100,000 signatures.
The museum refused: “Visual art is one of the most significant means we have for reflecting on both the past and the present,” it said.
WE PICKED IT BECAUSE WE KNEW IT WOULD GET A RESPONSE.