BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: greg stephens
Date: 28 May 04 - 06:13 AM

Very interesting, the theory that certain objects(eg art) cannot be privately owned, but must in some sense be communal property. Land, and stately homes and other buildings of a certain status tend to be considered in this light as well. It makes senses, though I'm not sure if I fancy everyone having the right to stroll round my house looking at my attempts at Zen calligraphy. An intriguing moral conundrum.
    I am not sure that I want a part share in Damien Hirst's shark, but I wouldn't mind a 60 millionth share in Stonehenge or "Flatford Mill".

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: Stu
Date: 28 May 04 - 06:21 AM

Duchamp did it all with his toilet all those years ago, so much of this stuff is derivitive bric-a-brac (though I like Hursts spot paintings).

Shame about the paintings though.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 May 04 - 06:38 AM

I don't think possession is a simple black and white thing - when we say that "this is mine" it can indicate a whole range of relationships between us and whatever it is we are dealing with. A stick, a house, a painting, a song, a country, a husband or wife, a child.

In that list the only absolute possession is the stick - I mean that is the only case where we have a free moral right to dispose of it as we like, and destroy it if we choose. (And I can imagine cases where even thta "right" is not absolute.) Most of the the words "my" and "mine" imply some kind of duty of care.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: GUEST,weary
Date: 28 May 04 - 06:41 AM

Lighten up McGrath for God's sake! Please let the odd BS thread be a bit of fun for once.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: greg stephens
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:05 AM

Bugger off, GUEST weary. I started this thread, and I say McGrath can say what he likes on it.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:15 AM

hello, how can you own a stick, who did you buy it off, and where did they get it from?
I reckon sticks should be held in trust for the whole nation, isent that waht the National Trust and English Heritage was set up for?

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: greg stephens
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:23 AM

They lend you walking sticks in hospitals after operations, I think, but I think you're meant to take them back when youre better. I had my grandfather's walking stick till recently, but I think it might have been nicked. Or taken back into public ownership, perhaps.
   What's all this about not owning my wife, eh? If any of you lot think you're going to get a share, you've got another think coming.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:27 AM

I have to admit my first reaction was a belly laugh.

There was a letter in the Guardian yesterday that I liked:

"So a large number of works by prominent young British artists are no more than a pile of unrecognisable debris. No change then." (Ian Pring, of Welling, Kent.)

But I thought that the real stuff that got burnt shouldn't go unregretted.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:28 AM

I read on a Stonhenge site a few days ago, that some rich bloke owned Stonhenge in about 1908, [not sure who he bought it off!], but then he genourusly gave it to English Heritage for them to lok after for the nation.
I think he paid 6 thousand quid for it, [probably a lot of money in them days].

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:33 AM

Ok Blackcatter, I got it now... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: jacqui.c
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:36 AM

What does it say for the values in this country that the genuine works of art that were lost were not given anything more than a passing mention in the news whereas a pile of tat by second raters gets full headlines.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: ard mhacha
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:39 AM

McGrath you have to be joking, I had a look at those "works" by Patrick Heron, I wouldn`t hang them in the toilet,on second thoughts I would, if I was constipated.
After the fire there was a pile of rubbish, Turner Pize material

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 May 04 - 09:19 AM

When I first saw this thread I thought, "God! Constable, Turner -- all gone! Did the Tate burn? The BM? The V&A? Was there some sort of protest again in Boston, perhaps at the art museum instead of the harbor?"

What's developed is a discussion of aesthetics.

To me, that boils down to "This is good because I like it, and YOUR taste is all in your mouth."

Remember Sturgeon's Law: 99% of EVERYTHING is crap.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: greg stephens
Date: 28 May 04 - 09:34 AM

My stick, my wife, my country, my art.....my arse

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 May 04 - 10:17 AM

Boats at Night - Patrick Heron 1920-1999 This wasn't one of those burned.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: Blackcatter
Date: 28 May 04 - 11:28 AM

What I like from up above is that someone is trying to get guineas for hamsters.

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 28 May 04 - 11:36 AM

I kept wanting to connect this thread to the Artsy Fartsy one, but ours was classier!

;-D


..xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: DougR
Date: 28 May 04 - 01:55 PM

McGrath: It's a pity.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: British Art treasures burnt to ashes
From: semi-submersible
Date: 28 May 04 - 06:51 PM

"...The genuine works of art ... were not given anything more than a passing mention in the news whereas a pile of tat by second raters gets full headlines."
Loss is all too common, while irony is a treat. "Man bites dog - now that's news."

Still, how much attention do things of "value" receive while they are here? Not only in your country, either.