British art museum removes a famous 1869 painting of Femme Fatale nymphs

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/02/02/british-art-museum-removes-a-f.html

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Well that’s stupid.

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Resist presentism.

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Maybe keep it up and let the museum visitors decide what they think?

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For those who don’t want to GET THE BOINGBOING NEWSLETTER :wink:

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"Join our outrage, kind sir, join us forever…

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maybe they could have just painted burkas on them.

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https://youtu.be/J49kdqrvSfk

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Are they sure they didn’t mean “to embrace Victorian prudishness?”

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25 posts were split to a new topic: Horseshoe Theory

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Well, they seem like nice enough gals.

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It’s all fun and games until they turn into Jenny Green Teeth and pull him under.

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It’s the same model, multiplied. She also appears (clothed) in “the Lady of Shalott” and other paintings.

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Well, what more need be said?

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LOL, “Curator, where did you put my sexy booby woman painting I lovd?”

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Has it been temporarily taken down, or permanently? I rather suspect the former.

And of course the predictable “ZOMG you are preventing all discussion of this topic (which formerly wasn’t happening and now it is) with this temporary action!” argle bargle.

Is it perhaps that many would rather avoid having the conversation they’re claiming is being prevented?

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I don’t see any discussion like they imply this removal might cause. Instead I see a discussion of why they removed it. Nothing about depictions of people due to their gender.

So, I would say that they failed in their attempt to start a discussion.

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Yeah, ugh.

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I think that curating what’s on display isn’t necessarily a problem but the reasoning behind it is. Of course certain ideas or themes from the past might not reflect current times but that’s the entire point of having such works up on display. It’s supposed to engage the viewer in any multitude of ways, some may appreciate the art itself and others might come away from it with an appreciation for how times have changed, etc.

Censoring or removing a piece of work entirely is pretty heavy handed. If the curators were uncomfortable with the themes in the painting i think that’s entirely their own bias. If presented in the proper context the painting would or should not offend.

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Yeah, it’s https://xkcd.com/774/ again.

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