Issue 6 February 2018
There was a bit of a kerfuffle in the Art World this week ('furious backlash' according to the Daily Mail) was a bit of an exaggeration when Manchester Art Gallery removed from display the charming painting 'Hylas and the Nymphs' by the English Pre-Raphaelite painter J. W. Warehouse.
To be sure the painting does depict several under-dressed young ladies but their nudity is by and large implied rather than explicit as they are underwater and screened by tastefully and strategically placed water lilies and foliage so only the most prudish person could find the image offensive and it is without doubt a technically accomplished and beautiful work. It was hanging in a gallery titled 'In pursuit of beauty' which seems about right.
Nevertheless it was deemed inappropriate. It was removed from display according to MCR "to encourage debate" about such images and how they should be displayed and visitors were invited to stick post-it notes on the wall where the painting has been to give their opinion.
The reactions were overwhelmingly negative. People like the painting. More interesting really would be to ask why they like it.
A number of objections pointed out that is difficult to debate the display of a painting that is not being displayed which is a fair point and there were many complaints regarding censorship (including condemnation from a number of feminists despite the implication that the image was borderline pornographic).
The smartest feminist response I thought was the suggestion that female artists should be given more funding and space to express their world views and ideas. It would certainly be interesting to put the work say of Louise Jopling, contemporary of Waterhouse, who created a popular genre depicting women and girls (her own children) in domestic situations, a rather different view of female beauty than Waterhouse's romantic nymphs and ladies, which extremely pretty and sexy though they are, are very much a male view.
However, in choosing this particular painting and artist the curators (both female) perhaps picked the wrong target. Several objections pointed out that 'Hylas and the Nymphs' illustrates a classical story from the myth-cycle Jason and the Argonauts in which the beautiful young man Hylas is lured away and abducted by the water nymphs.
The painting therefore explores the subject of female sexuality and the power of women over men. In this case it is the man who is vulnerable.
Indeed if we look at Waterhouse's work as a whole this is a constant theme. He loved painting beautiful young women, rarely nude it has to be said, he mostly hints at what is under the flowing drapery, but if we are to psycho-analyse his motives one would deduce he was rather afraid of women. In most of his paintings, with the exception of the odd portrait, none of these lovely ladies is looking directly at the painter. They are all looking away. One notable exception is The Lady of Shallott who, in Tennyson's poem, very popular at the time, was seeking to lure Sir Lancelot from his quest for the Holy Grail, by means of magic.
Waterhouse loved this subject and painted it several times. In the most famous image the lady is looking rather fiercely directly at the artist but she is physically restrained having been tangled up in her own web.
Does Waterhouse's obsession with the dangers of female sexuality for the susceptible male reflect just his own personal anxiety or a more general angst in the male population. The date is significant. The painting was completed in 1896. In the following year the Suffragette movement really got going. Although this appears to be a fantasy picture, the possibility that women might soon be in positions of power was a reality to the artist.
The image conveys a universal truth. This would perhaps explain the enduring popularity of Hylas and the Nymphs. It is not only achingly beautiful, it illustrates a universal principle. Sexuality,
whether male or female or in any other form, can be a dangerous impulse.
Truth and Beauty are the essence of all art forms and Waterhouse gives us both.
The painting's initial removal was filmed to be made into a new piece of video art for Sonia Boyce's exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery in March prompting claims it was a 'cheap publicity stunt' in which light it has been rather successful but after a week's absence I am happy to report the painting is back in it's usual place. Phew!
