Freedom and censorship in the arts Fear, fibs and fanatics

1. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Nineteenth century Parisians found this artwork offensive.

2. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics To understand censorship, we can make up opinions out of our own heads, or we can turn to history.“Those who do not study history are condemned to repeat it.” —Georges Santanyana

3. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Ultimately art is judged not by the whims of a particular era but by the even hand of time.

4. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics An infant nation’s first concern is to secure itself militarily so that. . .  

5. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics An infant nation’s first concern is to secure itself militarily so that. . . it can secure itself economically, so that . . .

6. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics An infant nation’s first concern is to secure itself militarily so that. . . it can secure itself economically, so that . . . it can develop its arts.

7. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics A mature nation can regress back to its second stage, economic insecurity, in the event of a crisis; or to its first, in the event of war. Such changes tug the arts back and forth between freedom and censorship.

8. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics “Theater, art, literature, cinema, press, posters and window displays must be cleansed of all manifestations of our rotting world.” This statement reflects some opinions today.

9. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics The author of that statement, and the painter of this picture, is Adolf Hitler.

10. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Hitler used censorship of the arts to help achieve evil of unimaginable magnitude.

11. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Under stable conditions: Artists receive generous public and private support. Art is usually free from censorship. The culture becomes artistically informed.

12. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Under moderately unstable conditions: Sponsorship is elusive. Censorship occurs regularly. The public becomes unlearned in the arts.

13. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Under severely unstable conditions: Censorship is imposed. Self-expression is replaced by propaganda, usually that of the church or the state. Art education exists at mostly the technical level.

14. FOR EXAMPLE: After the American Revolution, the infant United States turned to its economic needs, offering art classes for training craftspeople to produce goods competitive with those of Europe. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics

15. ANOTHER EXAMPLE: In Europe’s Middle Ages, a time of rigid church control, artisans were allowed only to create anonymous art that disseminated Christian dogma. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics

16. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics A CURRENT EXAMPLE In the 1980s Congress beat up the National Endowment for the Arts because its funds had been used to support the controversial work of two artists, Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe.

17. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Congress did not know that such funds must be awarded before artwork is selected, since art venues must pay to advertise for submissions, and for jurors to choose the work.

18. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics How grants are awarded: An arts organization asks for a grant. The funding agency (in this case the NEA) awards it. Its job is then done. The organization advertises the show. Artists submit work. A judge or jury selects the work. The artists ship the work. The show is hung.

19. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Piss Christ Andres Serrano Some people felt that their tax money should not pay for exhibiting this photo of a crucifix in a jar of the artist’s urine.

20. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Orchid Robert Mapplethorpe Nearly all of Mapplethorpe’s work was of flowers and celebrity portraits.

21. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Man in polyester suit But he also made homoerotic photos, and some people felt that they were inappropriate for tax support.

22. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics The Corcoran Gallery In Washington D. C., which had scheduled the Mapplethorpe show, backed out.

23. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Rather than investigate the funding process, Congress used the NEA as a political football to garner support from the radical right.

24. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Now let us consider the arguments. “As with our rivers and lakes, we need to clean up our culture. Just as a poisoned land will yield up poisonous fruit, so a polluted culture, left to fester and stink, can destroy a nation’s soul. With so many magazines, books, films and plays saturated with crudity and pornography, with our museums playing host to junk art . . . 

25. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics “. . . with the music aimed at America’s young far gone in hedonism , a question arises: Is America a decadent country; are we a corrupt people? As we watch communism lashing out in its terminal crisis of belief, are we missing another story, the West sliding down its own slippery slope to cultural death?” This view is popular with some people. Who said it?

26. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Patrick Buchanan. Currently a conservative columnist, formerly an aide to presidents Nixon and Reagan. Note its similarity to Hitler’s statement. In fact, the matter of freedom and censorship is more complicated than it first appears.

27. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Let us examine Buchanan’s argument. Envision the image of a naked man tied to a crossbar, about to be whipped. Or a naked woman fondling her genitals. Or another naked man kneeling, about to be spanked by a naked boy. A naked woman sits on the man’s head. Images that will pollute and poison our land?

28. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew Jusepe de Ribera c. 1628-16-30 Depicted here is a naked man about to be tied to a crossbar and whipped.

29. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Birth of Venus Sandro Botticelli This painting, done over 500 years ago, shows a naked woman “fondling” her genitals.

30. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics The Garden of Earthly Delights Hieronymus Bosch This work shows a naked man kneeling, about to be spanked by a naked boy. A naked woman sits on the man’s head.

31. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Bosch was one of Europe’s most serious Christian painters of the sixteenth century.

32. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Writers such as Buchanan can make any art appear obscene to readers who draw conclusions without seeing the art for themselves.  

33. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Some people ask, “Why can’t art experts recognize ‘sewage’ when they see it?”  

34. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics We can. No one can judge art better than people who have chosen careers in art and studied the discipline for years.

35. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Parallel examples exist in scientific fields. No one can conduct a heart transplant better than a trained surgeon. No one can pilot a rocket better than a trained astronaut. No member of Congress would presume to do either.

36. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics Yet some members of Congress presume themselves sufficiently qualified to override the judgments of art experts, despite the fact that hardly any can pick ties to match their suits.

37. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics The sword cuts both ways. The right to free expression is linked to the responsibility to exercise it wisely. The standards of the local community usually do not need to be trampled. Nudged at times, but not trampled.     

38. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics The public has been misled about the NEA to the point where it associates the NEA with “funding porn.” In fact, since its creation in the 1960s it has awarded well over 100,000 grants. Depending on who is counting, between 10 and 30 have been controversial.

39. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics The artist, the actor, the musician do not collaborate in the fiction that the world is flat and pretty. We will not feed a craving for reassurance that everything is just fine. Somebody must muster the courage to point out things that are wrong, and then suggest ways to fix them. 

40. Freedom and censorship in the artsFear, fibs and fanatics If I am offended by an image, it does not necessarily follow that no one else should be allowed to see it.