Attacking Art

Ilya Repin, "Ivan and His Son Ivan" 1885

This week, besides politics, a big news story was an attack on a painting. A famous painting by the 19th century Russian master, Ilya Repin, was seriously damaged by a drunken man a few days ago. According to the story, the man had come to Moscow and visited the State Tretyakov gallery, drank too much vodka in the bar and then smashed the painting, it's glass cover and frame. 

Artwork has been attacked many times, and for many reasons. In this case it was intoxication, but people have slashed masterpieces with knives, thrown acid, overpainted them with thrown or sprayed paint, stuck chewing gum on them, and even completely erased them. Crazed men with hammers have attacked the Michelangelo "Pieta" in Rome and the "David" in Florence.

Rembrandt, "Danae," 1636 (restored)

It's an interesting catalog of artworks that have been defaced, destroyed or otherwise altered. Even the Mona Lisa has suffered damage (once with acid) and is now behind bulletproof glass.

Danae after acid attack

Rembrandt has come in for plenty of attention too. His 1636 painting "Danae," (in the Hermitage) was splashed with sulfuric acid and slashed almost into oblivion, though it has been expertly restored. And besides that, Rembrandt's "Night Watch" has also been attacked several times, the worst in the 1970s when a madman slashed it several dozen times because he had been turned away after closing time the day before.

Attacking art seems motivated most commonly by derangement--most of the culprits have been somehow insane--but other motives have been cited. A woman slashed the Rokeby Venus, the only known nude by Velazquez--in 1914 to protest the arrest of a sister suffragette the day before. A fellow who later made a great deal of money as an art dealer painted "KILL LIES" in foot-high red letters across Picasso's "Guernica" and then proclaimed, "I am an artist," and claimed to be collaborating with Picasso. Luckily, the paint was removed and the "artist" was not charged. 

It isn't feasible to separate the public from artworks except in rare cases. The Mona Lisa is certainly an exception as is Michelangelo's Pieta (now behind glass and farther away from visitors). But others like Night Watch remain on public display and even when protected by glass are still vulnerable. 

Art must be approachable, available for concentrated study, for deep consideration; that's not possible when it's boxed in and protected. Preservation from the public may be mandatory for certain of our cultural heritage, but let's hope the rest remains open to us.