Art attack as eco mob paper over Hay Wain in anti-oil PR stunt
ECO-ACTIVISTS yesterday glued themselves to John Constable’s masterpiece The Hay Wain – and covered it with a mock version.
Enraging art lovers, the two student members of the group Just Stop Oil stuck large sheets of paper on the 200-year-old picture, replacing green fields with a scene of scorched trees, polluted skies, and discarded household waste.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police were called to the National Gallery in London to remove Brighton students Hannah Hunt, 23 and Eben Lazarus, 22, from the frame after the pair glued themselves to it. Both of them were then arrested.
The stunt forced the National Gallery to evacuate art admirers, tourists and a class of 11-yearold school children from the room where the picture hangs.
The Hay Wain, painted in 1821, is one of the gallery’s most popular exhibits and shows a scene in rural Suffolk.
Another of Constable’s paintings in the same series fetched £22.4million at auction in 2012.
The stunt provoked fury from art commentators, including Adrian Hilton, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, who said: ‘How is this even possible in the National Gallery? I mean, it’s a John
Constable masterpiece; a national treasure. Is it really this easy to paper over or – God forbid – destroy it?’
Mr Lazarus, a music student who previously boasted about evading arrest after protesting at an ExxonMobil oil refinery in October, told onlookers at the gallery: ‘Art is important. It should be held for future generations to see, but when there is no food, what use is art?
‘When there is no water, what use is art? When billions of people are in pain and suffering, what use then is art?’
Psychology student Miss Hunt said the pair carried out the protest because the Government is currently considering 40 new oil and gas projects.
‘You can forget our green and pleasant land when further oil extraction will lead to widespread crop failures which means we will be fighting for food,’ she said. ‘So yes, there is glue on the frame of this painting but there is blood on the hands of our Government.
‘The disruption will end when the UK Government makes a meaningful statement that it will end new oil and gas licences.’
A spokesman for Just Stop Oil said no damage was caused to the painting and that ‘low tack material’ was used to stick the sheets of paper up, adding: ‘If people are more concerned about a
‘Disruption to surface of the painting’
painting than the deaths of millions of people around the world then they need to get their priorities sorted.’
However, the gallery said the frame had suffered some damage – and there was ‘some disruption’ to the painting’s varnish. In a statement, the gallery said: ‘The Hay Wain suffered minor damage to its frame and there was also some disruption to the surface of the varnish on the painting – both of which have now been successfully dealt with.’
It said the painting would be rehung in a matter of hours. The incident follows several other Just Stop Oil stunts in Glasgow, Manchester and London where protesters glued themselves to the frames of paintings including Van Gogh’s Peach Tree.
Born and raised in Suffolk in 1776 to a wealthy family, Constable was an English Romantic painter and the Hay Wain is considered to be his masterpiece.
The 6ft painting depicts a rural scene on the River Stour, which divides Suffolk and Essex, and features three horses pulling a large wagon across the river. The peaceful painting is celebrated for its portrayal of a quintessentially English country scene which was at odds with the upheaval of the industrial revolution at the time.
In 2005, it was voted the second greatest painting in Britain in a poll run by BBC Radio 4, coming second to The Fighting Temeraire by Turner.
Constable died in 1837 after struggling to make money from his paintings.
They are now among the most celebrated British works of art.
After the incident yesterday, a spokesman for the National Gallery said: ‘At around 2.15pm... two people entered Room 34 of the National Gallery and appeared to glue themselves to the frame of The Hay Wain by John Constable (1821).
‘They also covered the surface of the painting with three sheets of what appears to be paper featuring a reimagined version of The Hay Wain.
‘The pair appear to be Just Stop Oil activists.
‘The room has been closed to the public and police have been called. Gallery staff – including members of the conservation team – are also in attendance.’
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said officers were called yesterday afternoon to a protest involving two people.
She said two people were arrested and officers were remaining on the scene.