Renoir protests at MFA distract from serious critiques of museums

Earlier this week, a group of protesters rallied outside the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. The protesters were not gathering, however, because of an offending exhibit or speaker, but rather to express their dislike for the esteemed French impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Among the signs brandished in the air: “God Hates Renoir” and "We're not iconoclasts[;] Renoir just sucks at painting!" 

NPR spoke yesterday with Max Geller, the organizer of the Renoir protests, who explained the rationale behind the anti-Renoir rallies.

"I hate Renoir because he is the most overrated artist east, west, north and south of the river Seine," he said. "I think in real life trees are beautiful and the human eyeball conveys emotional force. If you took his word for it, trees would be a collection of disgusting, green squiggly lines ... In real life trees are beautiful; Renoir just sucks at painting."

When the phrase "Renoir just sucks at painting" appears to be at the cornerstone of a movement, it becomes hard to escape the sense that the whole affair is little more than an elaborate joke. Geller and his cohorts seem compelled to act by little more than a quest for attention -- and are perhaps trying to capitalize on the 15 minutes of fame so readily accessible thanks to the viral power of social media. While we all might get a laugh out of Geller's antics, we should also keep in mind that although the Renoir protests might be a lark, there are plenty of real criticisms to be leveled at museums.

Earlier this summer, for example, a group of mostly Asian American students and activists led a campaign against an interactive exhibit at the MFA called “Kimono Wednesdays," where museum-goers could try on a kimono and pose next to the 1876 painting “La Japonaise” by Claude Monet. This sparked uproar from those who accused the exhibit of cultural appropriation. Though the MFA restructured the event -- among other changes, visitors were no longer allowed to wear the kimono, only to touch it -- protesters still flooded into "Kimono Wednesdays" armed with signs criticizing the MFA of objectifying and trivializing Asian culture. 

According to a July 19 Boston Globe article, they were met with counter-protesters -- some of whom were themselves Asian American -- who argued that the painting itself was meant to poke fun at "japonisme," the 19th-century French obsession with Japan.

This is the kind of debates about museum practices that is worth having. Legacies of colonialism certainly prevail in museums, and there are also a whole host of other ways museums operate problematically -- from the way their floor plans make implicit value judgments about different cultures' artistic contributions to the way their admission prices are often remain financially inaccessible for many. These are real concerns that affect which art is available for public consumption, as well as the way we perceive the art we consume. Let's focus on these issues -- on making museums more democratic institutions -- and not on the quality of Renoir's trees. Museums can facilitate important educational experiences for students and adults alike, and actions like the ones the anti-Renoir contingent make light of are capable of ensuring that these powerful institutions are serving the public effectively and respectfully.