Evoking dark nationalist feelings

Constable is racist:

The Fitzwilliam Museum has suggested that paintings of the British countryside evoke dark “nationalist feelings”.

The museum, owned by the University of Cambridge, has undertaken an overhaul of its displays, in a move that its director insisted was not “woke”.

Luke Syson said last week: “I would love to think that there’s a way of telling these larger, more inclusive histories that doesn’t feel as if it requires a push-back from those who try to suggest that any interest at all in [this work is] what would now be called ‘woke’.”

The new signage states that pictures of “rolling English hills” can stir feelings of “pride towards a homeland”.

However, in a gallery displaying a bucolic work by Constable, visitors are informed that “there is a darker side” to the “nationalist feeling” evoked by images of the British countryside.

It states that this national sentiment comes with “the implication that only those with a historical tie to the land have a right to belong”.

It's interesting to wonder how Constable could have avoided the unfortunate racist implications embedded in his work. By not painting at all, I suppose...

Comments

[aelfheld]

Not a bang but a whimper . . .

[Alan]

"And, did those feet in ancient time, walk ...."

"I will not cease from mental fight, nor will my sword ...."

[Dom]

I wonder why music has been spared so far. Let’s wait till they get a hold of Ralph vaughn Williams. Thomas Tallis , Green Sleeves, and all that. it’s not gonna be nice.