Puritan gatekeepers’ wish to censor Paul Gauguin paintings demeans art – by Alexander Adams – 29 Nov 2019

The Birth (Te tamari no atua), 1896. Found in the Collection of Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

Paul Gauguin is under attack from supporters of post-colonialism and feminism because of his erotic paintings of Polynesian girls and women. Is censoring art of long-dead artists for moral reasons constructive?

Curators of the current display of Gauguin portraits at the National Gallery in London have not included any of his famous nudes, even though they could be described as portraits. Gauguin is in the firing line because of his erotic paintings of Polynesian women and his life, while living in Polynesia from 1891 until his death in 1903. The attacks come from supporters of post-colonialism and feminism. Academic post-colonial studies treat colonialism and all its products as irredeemably unjust; feminism is deeply hostile to any sexualised depictions of women by men.

Some criticism of Gauguin has been vicious: “He was, in almost every way, an absolute prick.” “Exquisite art by the Harvey Weinstein of the 19th century,” adds another review. The exhibition seems part artistic assessment and part historical trial.

Gauguin in Polynesia

“Gauguin undoubtedly exploited his position as a privileged Westerner to make the most of sexual freedoms available to him.” So a wall text in the National Gallery, London declares. The truth of the matter is – as expected – more complicated than press and critics portray it.

Contes Barbares (Barbarian Tales). Found in the Collection of Museum Folkwang, Essen.

(cont. https://archive.ph/olZVm )

We must reject moralising pressure groups by asserting our rights as informed independent individuals to make our own judgments about culture and history.

By Alexander Adams, a British artist and writer. His book Culture War: Art, Identity Politics and Cultural Entryism is published by Societas.

Critics must protect high art from cancel culture – by Alexander Adams – 22 Nov 2019

Irek Mukhamedov, Gary Avis and Lesley Collier in the Royal Ballet production of Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

 

As cancel culture and the PC police creep closer to high art, where are the critics prepared to stand up to the Twitter mobs to save everything we have loved for generations from a fire of political purity?

Recently, The Guardian published an article entitled “Blackface and Fu Manchu moustaches: Does Ballet Have a Race Problem?” The article included comments from creative figures in the ballet field, with mixed opinions, including indications that political correctness is already restricting creative freedom.

Problems of racial casting and creative interpretation are particularly important in plays, ballet and opera, which are not fixed as literature and art are. Interpretation in ballet can come in many forms: from casting, costumes and sets to removing scenes and characters. Lots of classic ballets feature foreign settings and non-white, non-European characters. If a production is to create an authentic atmosphere – however incomplete – then it is justifiable to use props, costumes and make-up to achieve that. 

This enters the territory of “cultural appropriation,” which is a particularly poisonous identity-politics concept that states no member of a national or ethnic group can use culture from another group without demeaning and devaluing it. Even adopting fashion, music and food can instigate online mob shaming.

Kit Holden and Nathanael Skelton with Laetitia Lo Sardo in the Chinese Dance section of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production of Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov and Vincent Redmon’s “The Nutcracker” at The Birmingham Hippodrome.

A lot of art deals not in realism but in symbolism, symbols acting as shorthand. Sometimes the shorthand is comic and presents stereotypes for humorous effect. Added to this, ballet is far from naturalistic. When we demand that art forms with highly simplified and heightened expressiveness match reality we hit the insurmountable barrier of impossible expectations.

Policing appropriateness

While many of us pride ourselves on empathy and engagement with world cultures, we lack empathy for creators and audiences of 100 years ago. 

When viewing a work of art from another era, too often we are unable to absorb and respect a different outlook. We fail the art by being unwilling to relinquish our egos for a few hours. Why should the creators’ humor and outlooks conform exactly to our current view point? It is monstrously vain to expect that.

When (on our behalf) self-proclaimed authorities start to arbitrate what is appropriate and not, we give up our autonomy to decide for ourselves. We allow others to do our thinking for us and permit gatekeepers to treat us in patronizing, infantilizing ways.

There is a darker side. Often the attempt to protect other people’s feelings is a convenient cover for control. In the eyes of the elite, they have a duty to use their influence to protect weak people. This is the vanity of the elite seeking to curb other people’s speech. 

The elite are so convinced of their moral righteousness that they never doubt that they have the right to control both creators and audience. This restricts creative freedom and free speech; it also limits the potential of our imagination.

Cultural consulting or cultural control?

‘Song of the Nightingale’ (1920), with music by Stravinsky, choreography by Balanchine and costumes by Matisse, is a ballet that has proved tricky to revive in America because of its depiction of the Chinese. In a recent production, the American company took instruction from Chinese Americans. An organization called Final Bow for Yellowface has been formed to restrict depictions of Chinese in ballet productions across the USA. It is a sign of the way identity politics has taken grip of the arts in the USA, where self-appointed representatives of groups act as authorities, controlling how others can depict groups. Production companies have proved remarkably fragile when put under pressure by lobbying groups. The accusation of committing “Orientalism” (Western stereotypes of Asian and Arab cultures) is enough to frighten administrators into apologies and cancellations. Refusing to stage productions of “offensive” works is pre-emptively censoring what the audience is allowed to experience.

Yes, it is fair to adapt performances to our sensibilities, but that cannot extend to falsification. If Nutcracker’s “Arabian and Chinese [dance] variations were imaginative guesses” on the part of the composer and choreographer, then so be it. Attending a production of ‘The Nutcracker’ won’t turn us into slur-using mean-spirited racists. Credit us with more independence.

A critic problem

So, does ballet have a race problem? No, we have a critic problem. We lack critics (in all areas) who have the thorough grounding and clear insight that would allow them to battle the creep of cancel culture. 

If we do not stop cancel culture, it will entirely consume everything we love in a fire of political purity.

If critics do not realize that, then they are a problem along with race activists and their “good allies” among venue administrators, then we will make little progress. 

Working as an art critic for almost 20 years, I have seen terrible art go uncriticized by complacent critics. During that time, standards in art have slipped badly. If more artists, curators and writers had been shamed for their incompetence then that descent would have been less dramatic. Far from being isolated snobs, critics can be champions of the informed audience, holding to account timid venue managers and pretentious creators. Critics are the first line of defense against fads; we need them to be better informed and braver.

By Alexander Adams, a British artist and writer. His book ‘Culture War: Art, Identity Politics and Cultural Entryism’ is published by Societas.

Runner who confessed to cheating in a half-marathon under suspicion again after Chicago race – by Nelson Oliveira (NY Daily News) 16 Oct 2019

She needs to find a new hobby.

A runner who recently confessed to cheating at multiple races, including one where she rode a bike for part of the course, is under suspicion of course-cutting again this week after she clocked seemingly implausible split times at Sunday’s Chicago Marathon.

A spokeswoman for the 26.2-mile race confirmed to the Daily News on Wednesday that Emily Clark’s results are under review, though she wouldn’t offer a specific reason.

Clark, who denies cheating at the Chicago event, crossed the finish line Sunday after almost four hours, at 3:59:08. But the red flag came after she drastically changed pace midway through the race.

 

The woman, who operates a counseling clinic in Oregon, was running at 12:16 minutes a mile at the half-marathon mark and then somehow ran at 6:13 minutes a mile between the 25k and 30k marks, according to official results posted on the marathon’s website.

Her split times are consistent with course-cutting, as noted by the Marathon Investigation website, which uses analytics to expose marathon cheaters.

 

 

“Her splits were wildly uneven and implausible,” Derek Murphy, who runs the website, wrote Tuesday. “The most glaring are her sub 6:15 minute per mile 30k and 35k splits. There is only one logical conclusion — Emily once again cut the course, just three weeks after her confession and apology.”

 

Clark was disqualified from last month’s AppleTree Half Marathon in Vancouver, Washington, where she had been the second-place female finisher, the Marathon Investigation reported. It turned out that she had biked the majority of the course, according to a statement she shared with the website at the time.

 

The woman had initially claimed the woman on the bike was her “twin sister,” but later confessed to disposing of the bike before running across the finish line, The Columbian newspaper reported.

 

Clark’s statement went even further as she admitted to making two cuts in the Chicago Marathon course in 2013 and cheating again in at least three other races. She blamed her actions on an anxiety disorder.

 

But the woman attributed Sunday’s inconsistent splits to two asthma attacks she claims to have experienced during the race.

 

“This meant I had to stop and sit on the side of the course for a chunk of time and that I had to walk at other times,” she told The News in an email. “The friends who were out there to support me can attest to that. I was badly wheezing and used their inhaler at the halfway point.”

 

Clark, however, acknowledged that her results do seem suspicious.

“While I understand that such inconsistent splits and the recent article lead to suspicion, the truth is simple and I have friends who can attest to it,” she wrote.

 

The Chicago Marathon spokeswoman, Cindy Hamilton, said Clark has until Oct. 25 to respond to a request for details so event organizers can “reconstruct” her course experience. If they cannot validate the information, Hamilton said, she will be disqualified.

Three Books From My Bed – 4 Nov 2019

I reached over and cleared three books from my bed near the wall on the right side.  I put them on a stool next to my writing table.  I’m trying to be more organized.  Then I spread the three books out to see the covers and the titles and the meaning of it all. 

The novel I am currently reading, sometimes in the sunlight in the backyard among the green leaves – “Quo Vadis” by Henryk Sienkiewicz.  The story is a pro-Christian message set in ancient Pagan Rome during the time of Nero. 

I saw the movie from the early 1950’s when I was a kid and always felt called to by the title when I saw it on the shelf of the Adams Street library.  What did it mean this Latin phrase Quo Vadis – which I knew vaguely meant ‘where are you going?’  The book is about 500 pages and I am a little past 100 pages.  I remember the rough outline from the movie.  The Christians are always presented in glowing terms in this book by a Polish christian written in Polish.  Calmly waiting their turn to become emperors and rulers of Rome in the future.  The movie, and the book so far, never shows the Christians burning pagan books, or attacking other religions shrines and beating and killing priests and priestesses of other faiths.  Christians are simply innocent victims thrown to the lions by crazy pagan rulers.  The story was first put out in the 1890’s and was translated into over 40 languages and must have shaped many peoples view of the ancient Roman world and the rise of Christianity from that world.  There are a few recent video renderings of the novel on Youtube that I will have to look into.  One is a long Polish miniseries. 

Next I have a book that I haven’t been able to get past the first few chapters – What is to be done? by N. G. Chernyshevsky.  A Russian novel from the 19th century.  I am curious because V. I. Lenin read the book five times over the summer when the was fifteen years old and his older brother was an underground militant populist campaigning against the royal government.  Later Lenin wrote an important political book about advocating socialists use professional military style organizing methods for party members; he called the book ‘What is to be done?’ echoing the novel’s title and question.   But, I have not been able to get into the story when I listened to a reading of the text on Librivox.  But, I’m still curious as to what Lenin saw in the book, so I took the paperback off my bookcase last week, and brought the book to bed. 

The last book gives a clue as to why I have books in my bed at all.