Should we start a campaign to bring back the fig leaf -- to cover perhaps the eyes of those who might be offended by art? Or the things themselves? Cromwell's crew lopped off the noses of the iconic statues in England and the things were lopped off many Greek and Roman statues at another period in time...
Over the past decade, more than 500,000 students have toured the Dallas Museum of Art but one complained about the nudity so Sydney McGee, 51, a popular art teacher in Frisco, Texas, with nearly 30 years' classroom experience lost her job, even though the tour had been approved by the principal and a team of teachers and parents were chaperoning. The NYTimes wrote that she was suspended without pay on September 22.
So a good solution is to have fig leafs available to cover the eyes of students, with parental approval. We don't want teachers losing their jobs when teaching about art and art history. Or is this a sign that we are reverting to Victorian times -- Queen Victoria would only see The David in Florence with a cover over the thing. Paper Napkin posts about a mother whose husband drew a Speedo over David's deal on Michelangelo's most famous sculpture in an art book. Think in Pictures blog by a Texan has the Frisco school district superintendent's name and contact information. Rad Geek has the offending art up if you want to see what made the parent hot and bothered.
Everything is bigger in Texas...even art scandals!
All I can say is some people look for trouble. They aren't satisfied to just bump into it once in awhile.
Posted by: janet | October 04, 2006 at 07:13 AM