Accidental damage of art
Encyclopedia
Accidental damage of art refers to damage or destructions of an artwork as a result of various types of accidents, such as natural disasters, fire, plane crash, a fall and others. Most notable damage accidents occurred during a public exhibit or transportation.
crashed near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
, killing 225 people. Pablo Picasso
's 1963 work Le Peintre (The Painter) was part of the flight's cargo and was destroyed in the crash.
by Picasso. The painting was the centerpiece of Wynn’s art collection and was displayed at his Las Vegas casino. The pre-arranged price of $139 million would make Le Rêve the most expensive art sell of the time. The day after the price deal, while showing the painting to reporters, Wynn elbowed it creating a significant tear. After a $90,000 repair, the painting was evaluated to be worth $85 million. Wynn claimed the price difference from his Lloyd's of London
insurers, and the case was eventually settled out of court in March 2007.
In 2006, a man fell after stepping on his loose shoelace at the Fitzwilliam Museum
, Cambridge
, England
and shattered three Chinese vases of the Qing dynasty (17th century). The man was not injured and not charged with damage, but was banned from visiting the museum. The museum managed to restore the vases, which are one of its most valuable exhibits; they are back on display, but in a protective case.
On January 22, 2010, a woman accidentally fell into The Actor (L'acteur)
, a 1904 painting by Pablo Picasso
on exhibit at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
. The fall created a rip of about 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in height in the lower right corner of a 196 cm × 115 cm (77.25 in × 45.38 in) painting. The painting is considered one of Picasso's most important works and has an estimated value of $130 million. The damage was restored in April 2010 after three months of work. For six weeks, the painting laid flat loaded with small silk sand bags in order to realign the mechanical stress caused by the fall. After that, a Mylar patch was placed on the back of the canvas and the front was carefully retouched. Mylar was chosen because of its transparency – the canvas contains another painting on its back. The painting was placed behind Plexiglass after the accident.
Several artworks of contemporary artist Tracey Emin
were damaged by accident. Her Self Portrait: Bath — a neon light was tangled in barbed wire while exhibited in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
. It sustained almost $2,000 worth of damage when a visitor's clothes got caught in the wire. In the same gallery, another visitor backed into her work Feeling Pregnant III. My Uncle Colin was accidentally damaged by the staff of the National Gallery of Scotland
, but later repaired. In May 2004, a warehouse fire destroyed several of her works, including the embroidered tent Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-95.
auction house in London disposed of a box using a crushing machine. They were apparently unaware that the box was not empty but contained a painting by Lucian Freud
worth about $157,000.
Some contemporary exhibits were damaged as a result of diligence of museum staff who tried to clean up the museum area of what they perceived as a foreign or unclean object.
In 1980s, a work by Joseph Beuys
was altered when a janitor neatly cleaned up what he saw as a dirty bathtub in a German art gallery. In 2001, staff of the London's Eyestorm Gallery trashed an exhibit by Damien Hirst
which appeared as a pile of beer bottles, ashtrays and coffee cups. In 2004, an employee of Tate Britain
disposed of what appeared as a plastic bag of trash sitting next to an artwork; the bag was part of an exhibition "Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art" by Gustav Metzger
.
warehouse in east London, together with more than 50 works by abstract painter Patrick Heron
and other artists.
Transportation accidents
On September 2, 1998, Swissair Flight 111Swissair Flight 111
Swissair Flight 111 was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland...
crashed near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, killing 225 people. Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
's 1963 work Le Peintre (The Painter) was part of the flight's cargo and was destroyed in the crash.
Hit by a human
In October 2006, Steve Wynn agreed to sell the 1932 painting Le RêveLe Rêve (painting)
Le Rêve is a 1932 oil painting by Pablo Picasso, then 50 years old, portraying his 24-year-old mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. It is said to have been painted in one afternoon, on 24 January 1932...
by Picasso. The painting was the centerpiece of Wynn’s art collection and was displayed at his Las Vegas casino. The pre-arranged price of $139 million would make Le Rêve the most expensive art sell of the time. The day after the price deal, while showing the painting to reporters, Wynn elbowed it creating a significant tear. After a $90,000 repair, the painting was evaluated to be worth $85 million. Wynn claimed the price difference from his Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
insurers, and the case was eventually settled out of court in March 2007.
In 2006, a man fell after stepping on his loose shoelace at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and shattered three Chinese vases of the Qing dynasty (17th century). The man was not injured and not charged with damage, but was banned from visiting the museum. The museum managed to restore the vases, which are one of its most valuable exhibits; they are back on display, but in a protective case.
On January 22, 2010, a woman accidentally fell into The Actor (L'acteur)
The Actor (painting)
The Actor is a 1904 painting by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, one of the most recognized figures in 20th century art.-Background:...
, a 1904 painting by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
on exhibit at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
. The fall created a rip of about 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in height in the lower right corner of a 196 cm × 115 cm (77.25 in × 45.38 in) painting. The painting is considered one of Picasso's most important works and has an estimated value of $130 million. The damage was restored in April 2010 after three months of work. For six weeks, the painting laid flat loaded with small silk sand bags in order to realign the mechanical stress caused by the fall. After that, a Mylar patch was placed on the back of the canvas and the front was carefully retouched. Mylar was chosen because of its transparency – the canvas contains another painting on its back. The painting was placed behind Plexiglass after the accident.
Several artworks of contemporary artist Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
were damaged by accident. Her Self Portrait: Bath — a neon light was tangled in barbed wire while exhibited in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, holds the national collection of modern art. When opened in 1960, the collection was held in Inverleith House, at the Royal Botanic Gardens...
. It sustained almost $2,000 worth of damage when a visitor's clothes got caught in the wire. In the same gallery, another visitor backed into her work Feeling Pregnant III. My Uncle Colin was accidentally damaged by the staff of the National Gallery of Scotland
National Gallery of Scotland
The National Gallery of Scotland, in Edinburgh, is the national art gallery of Scotland. An elaborate neoclassical edifice, it stands on The Mound, between the two sections of Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens...
, but later repaired. In May 2004, a warehouse fire destroyed several of her works, including the embroidered tent Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-95.
Negligence and diligence
In 2000, porters at Sotheby'sSotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
auction house in London disposed of a box using a crushing machine. They were apparently unaware that the box was not empty but contained a painting by Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
worth about $157,000.
Some contemporary exhibits were damaged as a result of diligence of museum staff who tried to clean up the museum area of what they perceived as a foreign or unclean object.
In 1980s, a work by Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
was altered when a janitor neatly cleaned up what he saw as a dirty bathtub in a German art gallery. In 2001, staff of the London's Eyestorm Gallery trashed an exhibit by Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
which appeared as a pile of beer bottles, ashtrays and coffee cups. In 2004, an employee of Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
disposed of what appeared as a plastic bag of trash sitting next to an artwork; the bag was part of an exhibition "Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art" by Gustav Metzger
Gustav Metzger
Gustav Metzger is an artist and political activist who developed the concept of Auto-Destructive Art and the Art Strike. Together with John Sharkey, he initiated the Destruction in Art Symposium in 1966...
.
Fire
In May 2004, a fire destroyed the MomartMomart
Momart is a British company specialising in the storage, transportation, and installation of works of art. It has been owned by Falkland Islands Holdings since 5 March 2008....
warehouse in east London, together with more than 50 works by abstract painter Patrick Heron
Patrick Heron
Patrick Heron , was an English painter, writer and designer, based in St. Ives, Cornwall.- Early life :...
and other artists.
See also
- Art destructionArt destructionArt destruction involves the damaging or destruction of works of art. This can happen through a natural process, an accident, or deliberate human involvement.-Natural destruction:...
- Art forgeryArt forgeryArt forgery is the creation of works of art which are falsely attributed to other, usually more famous, artists. Art forgery can be extremely lucrative, but modern dating and analysis techniques have made the identification of forged artwork much simpler....
- Art interventionArt interventionArt intervention is an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience or venue/space. It has the auspice of conceptual art and is commonly a form of performance art. It is associated with the Viennese Actionists, the Dada movement and Neo-Dadaists...
- Art theftArt theftArt theft is usually for the purpose of resale or for ransom . Stolen art is sometimes used by criminals to secure loans.. One must realize that only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered. Estimates range from 5 to 10%. This means that little is known about the scope and characteristics of...
- Art theft and looting during World War IIArt theft and looting during World War IIArt theft and looting occurred on massive scale during World War II. It originated with the policies of the Axis countries, primarily Nazi Germany and Japan, which systematically looted occupied territories...
- Degenerate artDegenerate artDegenerate art is the English translation of the German entartete Kunst, a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German or Jewish Bolshevist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were...
- IconoclasmIconoclasmIconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
- Looted artLooted artLooted art has been a consequence of looting during war, natural disaster and riot for centuries. Looting of art, archaeology and other cultural property may be an opportunistic criminal act, or may be a more organized case of unlawful or unethical pillage by the victor of a conflict."Looted art"...
- Vandalism of artVandalism of artVandalism of art refers to intentional damage of an artwork . The object is usually exhibited in public, becomes damaged as a result of the act, and remains in place right after the act...