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Not a good day to be at the museum!New York woman falls, rips Picasso painting
One question: How did she get close enough to trip and fall into it? Seems like there was something wrong in the security arrangements if such an expensive and apparently famous painting was that easy to get to. Not saying it needed to be behind glass but how about on a wall above knee-height or something?Maybe the Met just cant be trusted to safegaurd its holdings.
I'm sure they'll do something to the painting now which makes it harder to accidentally touch. I suppose it's a trade-off; on one hand, the paintings need to be protected from accidents like this, but on the other hand museums want to make it easy for people to get very close views. Wouldn't it be ironic if museums now got bail out money to construct protective barriers so accidents like this can't happen in the future?
I would say it depends on the value of the painting. If they do something to protect it now it is another classic example of closing the barn door after the horse has left isn't it?
I think SOP is that the viewer must stand like 24 inches away or something. Every museum I've been to, the paintings are not covered. Only one I saw in glass was a DaVinci at the Smithsonian. I'm surprised this doesn't happen with statues more often seeing that one can go right up to them and touch it. I would say this is a case of the guards sleeping on the job. I was surprised at how few guards there were in the galleries when I went. There was one in almost every room at the Fine Arts museum in Boston and even the RISD museum was more strict.When I was at the Met Museum I saw a sign about not using flash on a camera. I, rather than the guards, probably told more people they're not supposed to use the flash.
I think SOP is that the viewer must stand like 24 inches away or something. Every museum I've been to, the paintings are not covered. Only one I saw in glass was a DaVinci at the Smithsonian. I'm surprised this doesn't happen with statues more often seeing that one can go right up to them and touch it. I would say this is a case of the guards sleeping on the job. I was surprised at how few guards there were in the galleries when I went. There was one in almost every room at the Fine Arts museum in Boston and even the RISD museum was more strict.When I was at the Met Museum I saw a sign about not using flash on a camera. I, rather than the guards, probably told more people they're not supposed to use the flash.
I think the distance between the viewer and painting may differ from museum to museum, but even if it was 24" at the Met, I think the story said she tripped and fell into the painting. So it sounds like a freak accident - something the guards might not have been able to prevent. If someone wanted to intentionally wreak havoc at a museum, I think it would be entirely possible. There's always that risk, and there's an expectation that the public will behave. Every once in a while you get crazy people swinging hammers at Michelangelo statues or whatnot, but that is an exception and is the price of making works of art accessible to the public.
It is a risk, and it was perhaps an unpreventable freak accident, but I think guards should be stationed at the more popular and expensive paintings. I remember being at the smithsonian, went to touch a painting, and the guard was right there telling me not to do that. I was surprised at the Met because people were touching the statues and had their faces right up to the painting. Didn't see many guards around.
You went to touch a painting at the Smithsonian? 😮I am surprised that the Met would not guard against the touching of statues - even moreso touching paintings - but the place might just be poorly run (or the guards might not be well-trained). In my graduate assistantship, we have to put on white gloves to handle works in the university's collection which are far less in value than major museum holdings. Some museums may have alarms which go off if people get too close to them. I believe the woman who ripped the Picasso was part of an art class, possibly where the class gathers around the painting while the instructor does a mini lecture. I go to the local museum from time to time on my own or as part of class lectures and while the guards walk around throughout the rooms on a regular basis, there are moments when I can have an entire room to myself. I'm sure they want people to know that guards are close by without having them feel like they are being spied on.
I was at the Louvre about 10 years ago and I seem to remember that there was only a velet rope about 3 feet or so from the Venus de Milo, nothing that would really stop someone from touching it if they wanted to. I don't remember seeing a whole lot of gaurds either. The Mona Lisa was behind glass though, and much less impressive than I thought it would be.
