DESTRUCTO

    The recent movie release, The Monuments Men, stirs thoughts about the fragility of artworks. Sometimes people don't think about what a keystone to culture that artworks are. There are many ways to destroy a culture, one method being to take away artistic traditions. Adolph Hitler knew that, and many more throughout history knew it too.

    The Great Sphinx at Giza was constructed during the Old Kingdom era of Egypt, between 2558-2532 BC. It is the oldest and largest monolith statue in history, possibly depicting the Pharaoh Khafra. Its missing nose is attributed to vandalism by Sufi Muslims in 1378 AD, who did not like that the locals were making offerings to the Sphinx. Chisels or rods were used to pry the nose off. The popular story that Napoleon's soldiers cannon balled it is not generally believed to be true.

 

    The stripping of the ancient Greek building, the Parthenon, in Athens was shameful. It is one thing for a culture to share its treasures with museums of other countries, but the British Earl of Elgin in 1801-1812 removed half of the carvings and statuary from this structure, by permit from the Ottoman Empire authorities. In this case the motivations were arrogance and greed. The British Museum currently holds the pieces, and controversy rages about returning these artworks to their original home.

 

    Just a few years ago a heartbreaking total destruction of monumental artworks was the dynamiting in 2011 by the Taliban of two giant standing Buddha sculptures carved into sandstone cliffs in Afghanistan. These stunning carvings were probably done in 507-554 AD, and were originally stucco coated and with bright painting on their features.

 

    Despite the efforts of the "Monuments Men", many valuable pieces of art were destroyed in Europe during the battles of WWII.
    Gustave Courbet's beautiful 1849 The Stone Breakers perished in the Allied bombing of Dresden.

 

Vincent Van Gogh's 1888 Painter On His Way To Work was burned in Berlin.

 

    The retreating Nazis used explosives to demolish many artworks in Austria, including Gustave Klimt's Philosophy.

 

    A somewhat humorous destruction was this portrait of Winston Churchill, painted by Graham Sutherland in 1954. Churchill's wife hated the painting so much that she destroyed it herself.

    I finish with a local example of thoughtless destruction which has been a thorn in my side ever since I first heard about it. The beautiful Petaluma City Hall which was built in 1886, was demolished in 1955 to make room for a parking lot (Joni Mitchell was right!) that is still there today. The only thing that survives is the tall palm tree.

 

    Kudos to those who have the foresight to protect our cultural treasures, be they great works or art and architecture, or everyday items which exemplify who we were and how we lived.