de Laszlo portrait slashed

[Marc]

De Laszlo's masterful portrait of Lord Balfour was attacked by a young female student with spray paint and then slashed many times with a box cutter. Apart from (ironically) endorsing the inclusion of female students at Cambridges Trinity college he also was a key figure in returning European Jewish peoples to Palestine/Israel. Of course this has become a tragic hot topic again.

 

[Bartc]

So, as I predicted in prior threads about protesting via disfiguring art, sooner or later someone would do actual lasting damage to a painting. It's not without real danger of that, and in this case it's likely that was intended. Else why use a box cutter?

It's nothing new in this form of protest for it to be ironically or misguidedly not appropriate to the painting targeted.

Believe me I'm not excusing this, I'm bemoaning it.

 

[john]

It's just a painting.

30,000 Palestinians have been killed in this recent war. About 1,400 Israelis.

Approximately 24,162 Israelis and 85,902 Palestinians have been killed since Israel was founded in 1948.

The Israeli population is about twice that of the Palestinians.

But a painting was harmed. OMG

 

[Marc]

And twenty times as many dead in the Ukraine. How can we even talk of painting? how can this forum even exist?

Well, we all die but painting gives me meaning in this short life. I believe in the soul, and I hope, pray, that my works might feed the souls of others. The limitations of my mind can't grasp the horror of all those thousands dying in foreign lands, it's pain enough to know my present family members dying of cancer, but I find it easily within my toolbox to grieve the needless, pointless loss of important works of art which have fed my soul and hopefully of others as well.

 

[brianvds]

It's just a painting.

30,000 Palestinians have been killed in this recent war. About 1,400 Israelis.

Approximately 24,162 Israelis and 85,902 Palestinians have been killed since Israel was founded in 1948.

The Israeli population is about twice that of the Palestinians.

But a painting was harmed. OMG

It is indeed a horror, and the western world's actions absolutely shameful, but I fear she is not doing the Palestinian cause any favors. Irrespective of whether one is a fan of the subject of a painting, I am not too amused at the destruction of works of art. (I also opposed such actions as destroying statues of Saddam Hussein and Lenin, not to mention the giant Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban).

 

[Puapka]

In a superhero comic doom patrol there was one storyline where they met 2 species of aliens, and decided that conflict between them should be resolved by whichever one is willing to sacrifice greater piece of art to win, of course its hard to measure art but thats how it went. The winner was unhappy at the victory if i remember correctly, it was something grant morisson wrote.

 

[john]

It is indeed a horror, and the western world's actions absolutely shameful, but I fear she is not doing the Palestinian cause any favors. Irrespective of whether one is a fan of the subject of a painting, I am not too amused at the destruction of works of art. (I also opposed such actions as destroying statues of Saddam Hussein and Lenin, not to mention the giant Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban).

Yeah the Buddhas thing bothered me too. I think of all the work that went into them. Ignorant savages.

Doing some quick math, adjusting for their relative populations, there have been almost 7 times more killing of Palestinians per capita than Israelis. And far far more children.

For some reason we rarely/ever? hear about this from our Judeo/Christian centered lamestream media. But they are the other tribe so I guess it doesn't matter.

 

[brianvds]

Yeah the Buddhas thing bothered me too. I think of all the work that went into them. Ignorant savages.

Doing some quick math, adjusting for their relative populations, there have been almost 7 times more killing of Palestinians per capita than Israelis. And far far more children.

For some reason we rarely/ever? hear about this from our Judeo/Christian centered lamestream media. But they are the other tribe so I guess it doesn't matter.

It is an issue that gets people's emotions up, and this board specifically forbids political discussions. Thus I'll rather not say anything about the whole sorry mess, except that chickens have a way of coming home to roost. I lived through apartheid and its end here in South Africa, and I have personally witnessed this happening.

But I still disapprove of art vandalism. Perhaps my general misanthropy, but I take a long view of history. Imagine archaeologists dig up a new bust of Julius Caesar, and some irate Frenchman then took a hammer to it out of anger over the invasion of Gaul. And Caesar, at least by modern standards, was really not a nice guy.

We wouldn't be amused - such a bust would be a priceless artifact, irrespective of whether we particularly like Caesar or not. Similarly, in two thousand years no one will care much anymore about Saddam's or Lenin's outrages; and statues of them will have become very valuable indeed. Except if we pull down all those statues, they'd be gone, and future historians and societies robbed of them.

Art lives far longer than politics, if we let it.

 

[Terri]

It is an issue that gets people's emotions up, and this board specifically forbids political discussions.

Which is why we forbid political discussions.

And any other "hot button" topics that aren't about art.

We've been watching this thread and allowing discussions about the event itself, but if it veers off topic any further it's going to be locked or even deleted. Which we'd rather not do.

Let's stay on topic. Thanks everyone!

 

[stlukesguild]

For years I used this bust of the Roman Emperor, Caracalla...

... as my avatar. He was unquestionably one serious SOB... but I have long understood how to differentiate the artist and/or the subject from the art.