Art destruction - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Destruction of art) Damaging or destruction of works of art

Art destruction is the decay or material destruction of original works of art. This can happen willfully, accidentally, or through natural processes.

Temporary artwork

Many works of visual art are intended by the artist to be temporary. They may be created in media which the artist knows to be temporary, such as sand, or they may be designed specifically to be recycled. Often the destruction takes place during a ceremony or special event. Examples of this type of art include street painting, sand art such as sandcastles, ice sculptures and edible art.

Artists who sabotage their own work

Some artists sabotage their own work out of insecurity, neurosis, or to start over. In 1970, John Baldessari and five other artists burned all the paintings Baldessari had created between 1953 and 1966 in a bonfire.

The 2018 artwork Love is in the Bin by Banksy was designed with a shredder hidden in the frame, activated upon the painting's sale at auction to destroy the lower half of the artwork.

"Sacrifice" of ritual artwork

Some artwork is made to be intentionally sacrificed in a ceremonial or ritual process, often by burning.

Tibetan sand mandalas are meticulously constructed to visualize Buddhist cosmology, before being swept up and bottled or otherwise ritually disposed
Burning Man is an arts festival in the Nevada desert which serves as a psychedelic community. On the last day of the festival, a giant wooden mannequin is ritually burned.
The Semana Santa (Easter week) festival in Antigua, Guatemala, where designs made out of flowers and colored sawdust are created in the street prior to being trampled by a religious parade.
The burning of Zozobra during Fiestas de Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, usually during the second week of September.
The burning of falles in Valencia, Spain.
Radoslav Rochallyi claims that his creative process is a ritual of creation and destruction. He claims that for him, the new replaces the old as passionately and carelessly as the old is destroyed.

Iconoclasm

Main article: iconoclasm

Other works of art may be destroyed without the consent of the original artist or of the local community. In other instances, works of art may be destroyed by a local authority against the wishes of the outside community. Examples of this include the removal of Diego Rivera's 1934 Man at the Crossroads mural from the Rockefeller Center and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan statues by the Taliban government.

Artworks destroyed in the September 11 attacks in the United States included a painted wood relief by Louise Nevelson, a painting from Roy Lichtenstein's Entablature series and a Joan Miró tapestry. The total value of artwork lost in the September 11 attacks is said to have been in excess of $100 million
In 2017, a terror suspect attacked guards of the Louvre with machetes and was found carrying "bombs of aerosol paint" intended to "disfigure the masterpieces of the museum."
In 2023, a bronze statue of Robert E. Lee, which was begun by Henry Shrady in 1917 and completed by Leo Lentelli in 1924, was melted by the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

References

Badshah, Nadeem (14 October 2021). "Banksy sets auction record with £18.5m sale of shredded painting". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
"Building the Temple". Burning Man. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
"Tiny talks with Radoslav Rochallyi". Tiny Spoon-Literary Magazine. 25 March 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-03-26. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
"'Up to' $100m art lost in attacks". BBC News. 5 October 2001. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
Emilie Blachère (13 February 2017). "Attack at the Louvre: the tourist was a terrorist". Paris Match (in French). Retrieved 2 January 2018. Investigators found bombs of aerosol paint in his bag. No doubt to blot out the masterpieces of the museum.
"Robert E Lee statue that sparked Charlottesville riot is melted down: 'Like his face was crying' | Virginia | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2023-10-27.

Bibliography

Gunnar Schmidt: Klavierzerstörungen in Kunst und Popkultur. Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2012. ISBN 978-3-496-01475-1.
Anne-Marie O'Connor: The Lady in Gold, the Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer ISBN 0-307-26564-1

Damage, destruction and looting of art and cultural heritage

Human-
caused

By location	Afghanistan Destruction of art Bangladesh Bangabandhu Memorial Museum attack Brazil Artworks lost or damaged in the 2023 Congress attack Canada Monuments removed in 2020–2022 China Destruction of the Four Olds Looting of the Eastern Mausoleum France Iconoclasm during the French Revolution Germany Bombing of Dresden Iran Disappeared statues in Tehran, 2010 Iraq Archaeological looting Destruction of Mosul Museum artifacts Ireland Destruction of country houses, 1919–1923 Israel Destruction of the Shrine of Husayn's Head Kosovo Destruction of Albanian heritage Destruction of Serbian heritage Middle East Damage to heritage sites in 21st-century conflicts Nigeria Benin Bronzes Palestine Damage to heritage sites in the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip Poland Destruction of Warsaw Looting in World War II Saudi Arabia Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites Spain Destroyed landmarks Syria Damage to heritage sites during the Syrian civil war Ukraine Demolition of monuments to Lenin Damage to heritage sites during the Russian invasion United Kingdom 20th-century destruction of country houses Baedeker Blitz Demolished buildings and structures in London Churches in the City of London Churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt Public art formerly in London United States Artworks lost or damaged in the September 11 attacks List of buildings damaged or destroyed in the September 11 attacks
By type	Attacks on museums Destruction of cultural heritage by the Islamic State Destroyed libraries Grave robbery Body snatching Landmarks destroyed or damaged by climate change Museums destroyed by war Napoleonic looting List Stolen and missing Moon rocks Tallest voluntarily demolished buildings
World War II	Art theft and looting Restitution claims Works by Vincent van Gogh Libraries Nazi plunder

Natural

Library damage in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

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