I believe in Civil Disobedience, the right to protest and Free speech. I love a good public, non-violent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law done with the aim of bringing about a change. I strongly believe in disruption the status quo! I believe there is a better way to be in the world one which values people over corporations, honors the natural environment over forward technological progress, one which supports regenerative systems as opposed to finite ones. One which values in person education over zoom, and one which truly invests in communities.
In this short essay I am going to address some of the recent (2022) actions and not so recent actions which have taken place in Art Museums across the world. I’m also so excited to share a raw and unedited conversation between Carolyn Riccardelli and myself on this topic. Carolyn is a large object conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, she also serves on the Emergency Preparedness team.
Attacking works of art is not a new phenomenon. On March 10th 1914 Mary Richardson, Canadian suffragette slashed Diego Velazquez painting Rokeby Venus.
The charismatic leader of the suffragette movement Emmeline Pankhurst, frequently endorsed the use of property destruction to bring attention to the issue of women's suffrage. Here is the statement Mary Richardson made to the press
"I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history. Justice is an element of beauty as much as colour and outline on canvas. Mrs Pankhurst seeks to procure justice for womanhood, and for this she is being slowly murdered by a Government of Iscariot politicians. If there is an outcry against my deed, let every one remember that such an outcry is an hypocrisy so long as they allow the destruction of Mrs Pankhurst and other beautiful living women, and that until the public cease to countenance human destruction the stones cast against me for the destruction of this picture are each an evidence against them of artistic as well as moral and political humbug and hypocrisy."
— "Miss Richardson's Statement". The Times. London. 11 March 1914.
A clear connection between the act of civil disobedience and the cause. Moving now to the UK, from 2010-2016 the Liberate Tate movement took place. Cultural organization and activists staged a series of performances and protests including a miniature oil spill demanding an end to BP’s sponsorship of the galleries. In 2016 BP announced that it will end its 26-year-long sponsorship of Tate. Again a clear connection between actions and desired outcome. More recently in the US the photographer and former OxyContin addict, Nan Goldin and around 100 demonstrators, members of the group P.A.I.N threw pill bottles into the moat surrounding the 2000 year old Egyptian Temple of Dendur at the Met and then staged a die in to protest sponsorship by the Sackler family. The Sacklers owns Purdue Pharma which makes the prescription painkiller OxyContin. The pill bottles had been labeled by the protesters to say “prescribed to you by the Sackler Family”. In 1974, the family paid for the Sackler Wing at the Met, in which the temple Stands. In 2019 the Met, the Louvre and other museums across the world announced they would sever financial ties with the Sacklers and in 2021 quietly removed the Sackler name. Another well organized protest with a clear desired outcome.
Now let’s talk about 2022! According to Artnet, these are all of the paintings that have been targeted by climate change activists in the last year. This type of protest has been taking place across the globe in Europe, North America and Australia, mash potatoes on a Monet, tomato soup on a Van Gogh, paint, oil, glue, none of the targeted paintings have had lasting damage, an inconvenience at best.
“Mona Lisa,” by Leonardo da Vinci in May.
“Peach Trees in Blossom,” by Vincent Van Gogh in June.
“My Heart’s in the Highland,” by Horatio McCulloch in June.
“The Hay Wain,” by John Constable in July.
“Aeolian Harp,” by J.M.W. Turner in July.
“The Last Supper,” by Giampietrino in July.
“Sistine Madonna,” by Raphael in August.
“Sunflowers,” by Vincent van Gogh in October.
“Haystacks,” by Monet in October.
And “Girl With a Peal Earring,” by Johannes Vermeer in October. (protesters glued themselves to this piece while pouring tomato soup on themselves)
Climate activists have said their intention is not to damage but to highlight their cause and bring media attention to lasting damage of the climate crisis. But what is the connection between climate activism (the groups extinction rebellion, just stop oil, last generation) and famous works of art. Even the activists themselves have admitted that the stunts may not been the best interest of the movement, their ongoing central question being “what is worth more life or art” and that climate change should matter more to people than art. Climate protests traditionally have had a short shelf life in the media (if any) yet the Van Gogh / Warhol/ Vermeer incidents led to millions of views and sharing on social media- its sparked opinion pieces and online debate, however mostly the public are left confused and are not sympathetic to the movement due to not understanding the relationship between the movement and the protests, there seems no coherant link between the painting and the message, a disconnection, non sequitur.
The issue goes deeper than the execution. Social movements are meant to make people think, and be unpopular, often they are a relatively small group of people telling a much larger group that they need to change, in this case something seems lost in the execution.
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) addressed these actions by releasing two statements co-signed by nearly 100 gallery directors (including Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery in London), the first addressing their concerns forth about the recent attacks and belief that the activists underestimate the fragility of these irreplaceable objects, which must be preserved as part of our world cultural heritage and a second (separate) statement wishing to acknowledge and share both the concerns expressed by museums regarding the safety of collections and the concerns of climate activists as we face an environmental catastrophe that threatens life on Earth. ICOM sees the choice of museums as a backdrop for these climate protests as a testament of their symbolic power and relevance in the discussions around the climate emergency. Museums are places where people from a wide variety of backgrounds can engage in dialogue, social discourse and communication but in this case it seems that both are on the same side and the action impact is falling short.
(Please enjoy the conversation between Carolyn and myself.)
To find out more about my Botanical Art Classes this Spring
Further reading:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/here-is-every-artwork-attacked-by-climate-activists-this-year-from-the-mona-lisa-to-girl-with-a-pearl-earring-2200804
https://ethicalunicorn.com/2021/01/14/when-climate-activism-succeeds-the-story-of-liberate-tate/
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/icom-statement-museum-climate-action-vandalism-2207520
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed Nan Goldin 2022 ‧ Documentary ‧ 1h 57m