The worst thing about the damaged Rothko is that it fuels the ban-kids-from-galleries debate | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
Yes, I’d be mortified if it was my son who’d scratched the £42m work. But talk of limiting access to great art is just wrongheadedThe news that a child damaged a £42m Mark Rothko painting at a museum in Rotterdam last month had me wondering how I’d feel if my toddler was the culprit. The work, Grey, Orange on Maroon, No 8, sustained small, superficial scratches to the lower part of the painting during an “unguarded” moment, which, while not a disaster, does mean it will have to be taken off display and restored. It comes less than a year after a four-year-old boy smashed a 3,500-year-old jar at the Hecht Museum in Israel.Honestly, I’d be mortified. Not embarrassed for my child, who is too little to understand, but because as his parent I had taken my eye off the ball. I would blame myself. I’d also be terrified I would be made to pay for it.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist. The Republic of Parenthood book will be published this summer Continue reading...
Yes, I’d be mortified if it was my son who’d scratched the £42m work. But talk of limiting access to great art is just wrongheaded
The news that a child damaged a £42m Mark Rothko painting at a museum in Rotterdam last month had me wondering how I’d feel if my toddler was the culprit. The work, Grey, Orange on Maroon, No 8, sustained small, superficial scratches to the lower part of the painting during an “unguarded” moment, which, while not a disaster, does mean it will have to be taken off display and restored. It comes less than a year after a four-year-old boy smashed a 3,500-year-old jar at the Hecht Museum in Israel.
Honestly, I’d be mortified. Not embarrassed for my child, who is too little to understand, but because as his parent I had taken my eye off the ball. I would blame myself. I’d also be terrified I would be made to pay for it.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist. The Republic of Parenthood book will be published this summer Continue reading...
