I visited Westfield, Stratford City on Tuesday, which is now the biggest shopping centre in Europe. It borders the Olympic site so it also allowed some new views of this hitherto hidden venue.
One of the stores which attracted me, was the Getty Gallery that was showing a selection of archival pictures from in and around London. The prints were beautifully presented, with some dating back 100 years. One shot that really fascinated me had been taken in 1920 at Stamford Bridge and showed Chelsea in action against an unknown team.
It was mounted on the far wall of the gallery and was roughly 1.5 metres in length. The first thing that struck me was how stadia had changed over the last hundred years. The ground itself was completely terraced other than a ramshackle ‘East Stand’ and advertising was conspicuous by its virtual absence. Then there was the fashion of the time, obligatory flat caps and the complete absence of women. I couldn’t see any vendors and the greyness of the sky hung like a shroud over the entire vista. It was a masterpiece as an historical document and sat well with the other images of the West End, docklands, parks, The Thames, The Blitz and or course, celebrity.
On Thursday a friend said that he was going to see this new ‘consumer paradise’ and did I want to meet him for a coffee, after he had ambled round this vast site. This I did and asked if he had visited the Getty Gallery, which he informed me he hadn’t. As he was a lifetime Chelsea supporter, I thought that showing him the gallery, and in particular that fabulous print of Stamford Bridge, would round of his visit and give him a lasting image to take away, which after all, would cost nothing compared to everything else that was on offer.
I didn’t tell him what I particularly wanted him to see, and we walked to the gallery where I led him to the far wall. Imagine my surprise as a blank, white wall confronted us, where only a couple of nights ago hung this enormous historical print.
Dumbfounded I asked the curator what had happened to the print! She answered in hushed tones almost as if I was referring to a dear departed friend, which in a sense, I was. “We had to remove it as many people complained about it”.
“Complained about it?” I repeated her words in an incredulous tone, because what was so offensive as to give anyone cause for complaint?
“Well we had West Ham supporters come in and say that it was totally offensive that Chelsea should be represented in what after all was their borough” I was speechless as was my friend, who I have never known to be lost for words before!
Coming to my senses I wondered how threatening these ‘supporters’ had been, that they had managed to get a work of art removed purely on the basis of their allegiance to a football club which they felt should be represented and wasn’t. What exactly did they say and what was their attitude that the gallery felt so intimidated that they removed the image? Had they taken to heart their nickname; The Hammers? These questions remained unanswered.
Looking around the gallery, I noticed an early print of The Beatles. Should this be allowed I thought? After all, they are from Liverpool so why didn’t we have a shot of The Stones who are from London? I could probably have found reasons why every shot on show was ‘offensive’. Nearly one hundred years after the shot was taken have we really learnt from history that we learn nothing from history?
The irony of this, is that finding myself in a cathedral of such overt consumerism, where probably the majority of the merchandise is produced or sourced in countries with poor working practices and low wages, no one saw the need to complain, or if they did, it was to little effect and certainly not visible to the eye. Whereas, an important historical image gets removed in the most pusillanimous manner, by an internationally known gallery that should know better!
For some unknown reason I was emailed ‘by your blog’…and being curious checked it…what I don’t understand is why there are no photographic links to what you are talking about? Interesting ‘tho.
Not exactly a Salman Rushdie situation was it! People are easily intimidated.
Hi John,
I just feel very very sad.
You don’t have to agree with an artistic “thing” “event” whatever to appreciate its artistry and what it’s saying.
What I suppose I feel even sadder about is that the people organising the gallery felt that they had to abide by the wishes of those who were “offended”. If that were true generally then there would have been no rock and roll ( I remember all our parents being very challenged by it); no Beethoven; definitely no Stravinsky; and I remember seeing a programme about the impressionists that told about the fact that they were also shockingly offensive.
Thank goodness art cuts through all this in the end!
Yes – this is worrying but more than that I feel sad about closed minds.
Have we really come to this when a group, marginal to say the least is allowed to voice their displeasure at a photographic image of historical significance and have it removed from an exhibition space be it in ‘ their own borough’ as they term it.Thus speaks the bigots,the simple minds,the little Englanders who cannot adjust to a world which goes far beyond FOOTBALL.Or does it have something to do with the possibility that the stadium in the Olympic Park may be the football ground for West Ham football club after the games 2012?
Hi John
That’s really interesting. I’m of the opinion that it’s healthy for art to provoke, challenge, cause debate and we should have an open mind when we view it. We should see the value that is in it, in this case, a sense of history with an image showing how times have changed. I think common sense needs to be applied and of course if there is an image which the vast majority of the public thinks is in really bad taste that should be listened to. But everybody has a different opinion and I don’t think we should rush to bow to the tastes of a particular group because another group might embrace the same image.
Thought provoking piece, let’s hope that image will resurface in a place it can be truly appreciated!