ART IS IN THE EYE OF THE NAKED.......
How many art museums have you visited in your life? Probably a few while playing the ugly-American on an overseas vacation. Seeing a famous museum like the Louvre is as expected as being ripped off by over-priced stores especially when they know you speak English. Museum trips are part of most tourist bus tours in Paris, London, Rome and Vilna, Latvia.
When it comes to our home city, however, how many times have you willingly visited a local museum? Be honest. Does the number zero come close? The reason is simple: most Americans find museums dull, boring, cold places with lines of screaming school kids. They’d much rather visit a dart contest at the local pub. Museums don’t help their image much. There are overweight guards standing around rubbing their crotches and watching you suspiciously. “Hey, buddy, don’t get too close to that 1,000 pound statue…we don’t want you pickin’ it up and high-tailing it outta here.” When people visit art museums they begin to whisper for some reason. Like, if you spoke in a normal tone, you’d be immediately struck dead. And, finally, most of the paintings being exhibited look like a 3-year old chimp painted them.
All that has changed. Vienna, Austria – the home of the waltz and pastries that would clog a rhino’s arteries – has revolutionized art museum tours. It’s prestigious Leopold Museum, normally a pretty buttoned-down place decided to spice things up. The experiment was a bigger success than Gallagher’s last tour when he smashed twelve hundred Napoleon’s with his bat.
With a midsummer heat wave sweeping much of Europe, Vienna’s normally staid museum decided that making the most of its cool, climate-controlled space would be just the ticket to spur interest in its new show, “The Naked Truth.” On a Friday night, some of the nudes in its marble galleries were for real. Scores of naked or scantily clad people wandered the museum, lured by an offer of free entry to the new exhibition of early 1900s erotic art. Visitors were told to just hang out as much as they liked.
Peter Weinhaeupl, the Leopold’s commercial director, said the goal was twofold – help people beat the heat (or anything else they felt like beating) while creating a mini-scandal reminiscent of the way the artwork of Gustav Klint, Egon Schiele, Oscar Kokoschka and others shocked the public when they first unveiled a century ago. “We wanted to give people a chance to cool off, and bring nakedness into the open,” he said. Way to go, Weinhaeupl, baby.
Most of the people showing up for the event wore little or no attire as they roamed the exhibition. Being a practical sort of pervert, I wonder how they got to the museum. By taxi, bus, underground or drove their own cars wearing nothing but their birthday suits?
Overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Austria has always been somewhat more conservative than many European countries. They are usually scandalized when a visitor, in a restaurant, orders breast of chicken. When they visit Rome, Austrians usually put a fig leaf on the statue of David. This experiment by the Leopold gave many conservative citizens the vapors.
The question before the house is: should American museums adopt this practice? Not the vapors – having people walk around art museums naked? Let’s examine the suggestion…pull no punches…dangle the possibility. Imagine members of your immediate family, friends, co-workers or just ordinary men and women you see every day walking around naked. How would you see that? Hopefully, with your eyes closed. Besides, a few of the Desperate Housewives – and all of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit girls – I’d rather not see anyone nude. I’m so prudish; I wear clothes while taking a shower.
When it comes to our home city, however, how many times have you willingly visited a local museum? Be honest. Does the number zero come close? The reason is simple: most Americans find museums dull, boring, cold places with lines of screaming school kids. They’d much rather visit a dart contest at the local pub. Museums don’t help their image much. There are overweight guards standing around rubbing their crotches and watching you suspiciously. “Hey, buddy, don’t get too close to that 1,000 pound statue…we don’t want you pickin’ it up and high-tailing it outta here.” When people visit art museums they begin to whisper for some reason. Like, if you spoke in a normal tone, you’d be immediately struck dead. And, finally, most of the paintings being exhibited look like a 3-year old chimp painted them.
All that has changed. Vienna, Austria – the home of the waltz and pastries that would clog a rhino’s arteries – has revolutionized art museum tours. It’s prestigious Leopold Museum, normally a pretty buttoned-down place decided to spice things up. The experiment was a bigger success than Gallagher’s last tour when he smashed twelve hundred Napoleon’s with his bat.
With a midsummer heat wave sweeping much of Europe, Vienna’s normally staid museum decided that making the most of its cool, climate-controlled space would be just the ticket to spur interest in its new show, “The Naked Truth.” On a Friday night, some of the nudes in its marble galleries were for real. Scores of naked or scantily clad people wandered the museum, lured by an offer of free entry to the new exhibition of early 1900s erotic art. Visitors were told to just hang out as much as they liked.
Peter Weinhaeupl, the Leopold’s commercial director, said the goal was twofold – help people beat the heat (or anything else they felt like beating) while creating a mini-scandal reminiscent of the way the artwork of Gustav Klint, Egon Schiele, Oscar Kokoschka and others shocked the public when they first unveiled a century ago. “We wanted to give people a chance to cool off, and bring nakedness into the open,” he said. Way to go, Weinhaeupl, baby.
Most of the people showing up for the event wore little or no attire as they roamed the exhibition. Being a practical sort of pervert, I wonder how they got to the museum. By taxi, bus, underground or drove their own cars wearing nothing but their birthday suits?
Overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Austria has always been somewhat more conservative than many European countries. They are usually scandalized when a visitor, in a restaurant, orders breast of chicken. When they visit Rome, Austrians usually put a fig leaf on the statue of David. This experiment by the Leopold gave many conservative citizens the vapors.
The question before the house is: should American museums adopt this practice? Not the vapors – having people walk around art museums naked? Let’s examine the suggestion…pull no punches…dangle the possibility. Imagine members of your immediate family, friends, co-workers or just ordinary men and women you see every day walking around naked. How would you see that? Hopefully, with your eyes closed. Besides, a few of the Desperate Housewives – and all of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit girls – I’d rather not see anyone nude. I’m so prudish; I wear clothes while taking a shower.
posted by THE RANTING OLD GEEZER at 8:22 AM
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