Who defines blasphemy in art – the Congress or the clergy?
A far-right politician walked into the National Gallery last Tuesday and threw four artworks on the floor, shattering their protective glass, claiming blasphemy. That may sound like D.C. news, but the National Gallery in Athens took the hit.
Still, there’s a through-line between the far-right pols in the UA.S. and those abroad: they feel the need to pass judgment on art shows. The pol in Greece, Nikolaos Papadopoulos, a member of parliament, told the press that it was his duty to destroy the caricatures in images titled “Saint Christopher” by Christoforos Katsadiotis.
The MP’s reaction conjures up one in the late ‘90s over Andre Serrano’s “Piss Christ” – a photograph of a crucifix immersed in a jar of urine.
The question in both instances asks who defines irreverence. In the cases of “Piss Christ,” it was either a pol, Sen. Jesse Helms R-N.C, or Sister Wendy, a reclusive English nun, who spent all but two of her waking hours in prayer each day. She told PBS host Bill Moyers that “Piss Christ” was the artist's way of conveying sadness over the disregard of Christ.
Continuing down memory lane, another politician’s reaction to the Brooklyn Museum show "Sensations” came with a warning label saying, "It may cause shock, vomiting, confusion, or panic."
Given that label, you knew the exhibit was problematic. “Virgin Mary” by Chris Ofili was part of the shock. What you saw was a rendering of the Virgin Mary in actual elephant dung obtained from the London Zoo.
Granted, if you’re talking about irreverence, a case can readily be made that Ofili disrespects Christianity. But if you’re talking about art and aesthetics, the dung, like the urine in Serrano’s ‘Piss Christ” was quite beautiful to look at.
Enter New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani who in reaction to “Sensations” wanted to take away the city's $7 million annual support of the museum.
Meanwhile back in this century, art in museums faces more than threats from pols about irreverence. The Trump administration has slashes funds for staff to preserve and maintain a vast collection of American paintinga and sculpture owned by the U.S. government dating back to the 1850s.
If Trump had more sense of history, he would know that societies from the past are not known today for their finances, but for their fine art. The Medici family members were bankers, but their legacy is the number of great artists they supported like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael.