Guggenheim Museum Is Criticized for Pulling Animal Artworks
Artists and museums are often in the thick of free speech debates — think of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s battle with the Brooklyn Museum over a Virgin Mary artwork with elephant dung and more recently a fight over an exhibit that evoked Emmett Till’s mutilated corpse. Typically the art world holds its ground, emerging bruised but resolute.
But in two recent controversies, the protesters seem to be winning.
On Monday, the Guggenheim decided to pull three major works from a highly anticipated exhibition after pressure from animal-rights supporters and others over the show “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World.” This, together with the Walker Art Center’s recent move to dismantle Sam Durant’s sculpture “Scaffold” in response to protests, has art leaders concerned that museums are setting worrisome precedents when threatened with organized pressure tactics. . .