We haven’t had a really good protest
outside an art museum in NZ for ages. It's hard to imagine Te Papa showing a statue
of the Virgin in a condom nowadays or the City Gallery fronting up with a
Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition, but in Caracas, Venezuela protest has reached
giddy heights sparked by the saga of the Matisse painting Odalisque
in Red Trousers.
Around 12 years ago the
painting was stolen from the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art with the thieves
replacing it with a shonky version they'd knocked up. The switch went undiscovered
for who knows how long but came to light as the museum struggled to find works
by Jasper Johns, Henry Moore and Lucian Freud. Some
commentators think there may be up to 365 works missing (which puts the 20 that
Te Papa were having trouble finding a few years ago into perspective).
And the
troubles in Caracas aren't over. The Matisse Odalisque has been found by the
FBI but they are being slow, very slow, to return it (oh, oh, they are now
starting to think that this one might be another fake). Losing patience a group of women have done
what any sensible art protestors would do and gathered outside the museum just wearing
red harem pants. More here if you want it.
Image: Top protestors at the Caracas museum
and bottom the recovered painting
