Protesting Art
By AnjaP
@Rollo1 (16676)
Boston, Massachusetts
October 6, 2015 11:28am CST
There's a strange protest going on today at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. They are protesting Pierre-Auguste Renoir and demanding his paintings be removed.
A small group is picketing outside the Boston MFA, holding signs that say things like "Aesthetic Terrorism" , "Treacle harms society" and "ReNOir". Passersby are slightly confused by the sight.
The entire protest is half in jest and all in earnest. The man behind the protest, Max Geller, is a lover of art, but a hater of Renoir. In his opinion, Renoir was a lousy painter and probably not a very nice person. He has also petitioned the White House to have Renoir removed from the National Gallery. He just really doesn't like Renoir.
Art is subjective, so they say. I personally see nothing objectionable in Renoir's paintings, though I must admit a preference for Vermeer. However, there is something I need to know:
Who's willing to join me in a protest the next time Yoko Ono drops three piles of dirt on some famous gallery's floor and then pretends it is art?
"I would say that every painting in the Museum of Fine Arts is really beautiful," says Max Geller, "except the Renoir ones."
14 people like this
13 responses
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 Oct 15
He is entitled to dislike any artist that he wishes to, but has no right to attempt to deprive others of the right to like it. Ballet has never appealed to me, but I would not campaign to have it stopped. I honestly could not care what other people want to look at or listen to, just as long as I can listen to opera.
4 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 Oct 15
@Rollo1 There are many so called modern art creators that deserve to be banished from society because their junk simply pollutes the art world. Even worse many councils spend huge amounts of tax payer's money to buy this junk at times.
2 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 Oct 15
@Rollo1 Very true, as long as someone who has the position to voice such an opinion praises a piece, it does not matter how atrocious it is because too many people would suddenly be afraid of criticising it.
I have seen paintings by people classed as old masters that seem really poor, but many people will like them because society says that they are good.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64346)
• United Kingdom
6 Oct 15
I think it was Keats who said beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What one person thinks beautiful, another will think ugly. I personally like Renoir, and this protest is just stupid. Also if we condemn works of art just because their perpetrators were 'not nice', we'd be deprived of half of the world's art.
3 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
6 Oct 15
I know that some art is beautiful and some is not. Some will evoke feelings of joy and peace and others will disturb the spirit and haunt. Artists are not usually nice people anyway, they tend to be either crazy or complete egomaniacs, or both. In Yoko's case, she is crazy and an egomaniac, but she's not an artist.
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64346)
• United Kingdom
6 Oct 15
@Rollo1 Too true. I don't know if you've heard of Tracy Emin - she was feted for exhibiting an actual unmade bed. Sheesh!. Then there was a pile of bricks in the Tate Gallery in London that won all sorts of accolades. Just looked like what it was to me - a pile of rubbish.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169489)
• United States
7 Oct 15
See what I would miss if I did not drop in on MyLot. I learned of someone who dislikes Renoir, and I learned of Yoko Ono's "art" and learned who thinks that is funny.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
6 Oct 15
I am not a great fan of Picasso, either. But mainly I object to wasting artistic talent on being clever instead of creating beauty. My opinion and not everyone else's. I agree about so-called artists and how stupid some humans can be.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (54716)
• United States
6 Oct 15
The next time she sings a song I'll join you in protesting. She hurts my ears.
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
6 Oct 15
I like Renoir - maybe we should all cut our ears off and throw them at the windows of galleries showing Van Gochs or write 'yes it is' on Magritte's This Is Not A Pipe.
1 person likes this
A world of possibilities there...
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
7 Oct 15
That made me giggle, but you know, I say they are living the american dream! To be able to picket whatever nonsense they want, peacefully
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
6 Oct 15
yepperz, beauty's in the eye 'f the beholder. personally, i dislike those abstract thingies that sell fer millions 'f dollars. i'd not waste my time nor energy protestin' their existence though.
's fer yoko?? there's many out there like 'er, they've jest not the 'name to fame'.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
7 Oct 15
@Rollo1 kinda odd how some folks 've that desire to do whate'er to draw attention to 'emselves, aint it?
@jillybean1222 (6406)
•
11 Oct 15
I enjoy a lot of renoir, he's not my favorite, but definitely an enjoyable talent
