Turner, Monet on display in Canberra Sunday, Mar 16 2008

Paintings by the world’s best 19th century landscape artists are on display for the first time in Canberra.

Turner to Monet: the triumph of landscape at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) is made up of more than 100 works by 48 artists including JMW Turner, Claude Monet, John Constable, Gustave Courbet and Vincent van Gogh.

Works by popular Australian artists Eugene von Guerard, John Glover, Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton are also on display, along with German, Swiss and Scandinavian artists who are often overlooked by art historians.

NGA director Ron Radford says it is the most comprehensive collection of 19th century landscape paintings ever assembled and will only be displayed in Canberra.

“This exhibition is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see works of art which have never been seen together in Australia before,” he said.

“You won’t ever see works by all these artists together again as there isn’t a single collection in the world that has this whole gamut of 19th century landscape art.”

The paintings are drawn from 40 of the finest collections around the world including the Tate and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands.

Mr Radford says some of the paintings have never been displayed in Australia before.

Turner to Monet showcases the predominance of the landscape genre in Britain and its spread to Germany, France and the rest of Europe during the 19th century. The genre then became popular among European artists living in Australia and the United States.

“It’s not just a survey of 19th century landscape painting, it’s about the century of landscape, the triumph of landscape,” Mr Radford said.

“It shows how landscape became the major subject. It only became the major subject in Western art in the beginning of the 19th century.

“So it starts off in Britain with Turner and Constable and Palmer and others, and then moves on to France onto the Barbizon painters Corot and the French impressionists but also includes German romantic painting of the early 19th century which we’ve never seen in Australia before .

“It includes also not just paintings of the old world, of Europe, but also of the new world, America, Australia, New Zealand South America.”

Australian artists

NGA chairman Rupert Myer says the exhibition shows the role of Australian landscape art in the context of international works.

“It contextualises Australian and American painting within the story of landscape from Turner to Monet,” he said.

“To assemble all of these works, to tell the story of how landscape painting developed over the century gives a complete understanding to the visitor of what was going on in the minds of artists at that time.

“The story of Australian painting is a very proud part of the Australian visual memory. For many people coming to see these works it will be like visiting old friends within the context of perhaps many new ones.”

Curator Christine Dixon says the exhibition is not just about big names like Monet and Van Gogh.

“What we wanted was the very best paintings that you could possibly have,” she said.

“We wanted the very best art made on this subject during the whole century.

“So it’s not always the most famous artists – although of course there’s Turner, Constable and Van Gough, Monet. But as well as that we want artists who you would never expect to see in a show like this who made extraordinary landscapes.

“So you’ve got a painter like Bastien-Lepage who is known as a painter of peasants and we’ve got a beautiful windswept … uninhabited landscape, which is actually about the eternal nature of land and the recovery of France after the disaster of the Franco-Prussian War.”

Ms Dixon says it is the first time paintings by German artist Caspar David Friedrich have ever been exhibited in Australia.

“[Friedrich] is one of the most important artists of the century but very little known outside of Germany,” she said.

Ms Dixon says the exhibition offers something for everybody.

“There’s such a variety. It’s not just pretty pictures of trees, it’s exciting pictures about nature and society and art. They’re the three topics of landscape painting in the 19th century.

“I defy anybody not to like anything in the show. There must be something that they will find moving, exciting, interesting and unusual.”

Turner to Monet opens tomorrow and will be on display at the National Gallery of Australia until June 9.

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Woman found dead at home Thursday, Mar 13 2008

Emma Clay, who lived in Van Gogh Drive, was found just after 4am on Tuesday morning by another occupant of the house.Emergency services were called to the scene and police were initially treating the incident as suspicious.A 25-year-old local man was arrested in connection with Ms Clay’s death.He has been released on police bail to return to Spalding Police Station on April 11 pending further inquiries.A post mortem has been carried out but no definitive cause of death was found so more tests will be conducted.Ms Clay had worked at Empire World Trade in Pinchbeck for six years and was most recently a line supervisor.Operations manager Andrew Simkins paid tribute saying: “It will be a sad loss for us all.”She worked across a range of sites and people knew her very well. That makes it even more tragic.”Needless to say we are very shocked and saddened.”She was a valued member of staff and our sympathy goes out to all her family.”A neighbour of Ms Clay, who did not wish to be named, said: “It’s just shocking. You don’t want to hear about that kind of thing in your own street.”On the evening of her death Ms Clay had gone to the Robin Hood pub in Bourne Road where she was a regular.Landlords Debbie and Rex Andrew said she had been unusually sociable and had been chatting at the bar before going home around 6.30pm.They confirmed she was not drunk when she left the pub and had only come in with ??5.Mrs Andrew said: “Emma came in most evenings but she didn’t talk about her private life.”She just came in and had a laugh.”Last week’s Spalding Guardian reported on the inquest of Alastair Ross, who hanged himself.He was the boyfriend of Ms Clay at the time of his death.

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On sale: the last work by a contented Van Gogh Thursday, Mar 13 2008

In the final weeks of his troubled life, Vincent Van Gogh swung between emotional extremes. Lengthy periods of tortuous depression were punctuated by bursts of joy and creativity. The result, notably different in tone from the angst-ridden material he produced immediately before his suicide, was a set of child portraits that radiate the optimism and purity of youth.

Now, for the first time in more than 90 years, one of the most acclaimed of these works is to go on sale. L’Enfant à l’Orange (The Child with an Orange), a painting inspired by Van Gogh’s fascination with a child who lived near his inn in the village of Auvers-sur-Oises, will be offered at the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht next month for £15.3m. It has been placed on the market by the Swiss couple, Arthur and Hedy Hahnloser, who bought it in 1916.

The portrait of Raoul Levert, the baby son of a local carpenter, was painted at the end of June 1890 at the Auberge Ravoux, where he had been a lodger. It marked the artist’s short-lived period of contentment before depression and mental illness led him to shoot himself in the chest in July of that year.

Just before Van Gogh moved to Auvers in May 1890 after a year in a mental hospital in St Remy, near Arles, he spent several days with his brother, Theo, sister-in-law, Johanna, and their son, Vincent, named after his uncle, in Paris.

Theo and Johanna were surprised by how well he appeared and Johanna later recalled: ” I had expected a sick man but here was a sturdy, broad-shouldered man, with a healthy colour, a smile on his face and a very resolute appearance.”

After moving to Auvers, the village’s picturesque charm and his pleasure at having seen his baby nephew proved to be the catalyst for a sudden explosion of artistic energy in the last few weeks of his life.

Van Gogh was ecstatic at being in this new environment. While there, he wrote: “Here one is far away from Paris for it to be the real country, but nevertheless how changed it is … but not in an unpleasant way, there are many villas and various modern middle-class dwellings, very radiant and sunny and covered with flowers. And that, in an almost luxuriant region just at this time, when a new society is developing within the air, is not at all disagreeable: there is a lot of well-being in the air.”

In the 70 days that Van Gogh was in the village, he frenetically painted more than 80 works. On 5 June he wrote to his sister, Wilhelmina, about his passion for the “modern portrait”, saying: “What impassions me most – much, much more than all the rest of my metier – is the portrait, the modern portrait.”

The portraits he worked on during these last weeks included several pictures of children inspired by his affection for the young Vincent, although he had become convinced that living in Paris was undermining the boy’s health and so portrayed the country youngsters in his last portraits as happy, rosy-cheeked children who were testaments to the benefits of rural life.

James Roundell, a director at Dickinson’s art dealers, which is representing the sale, said the painting was among a series of “vibrantly alive and joyful portraits” which he undertook in the last month of his life.

“The characteristically energetic brushwork and the rich colour scheme imbues the picture with a joie de vivre which does not hint at the tragedy which was to follow. Van Gogh, content and happy to be once more in the north, exulted in the landscape and the inhabitants of Auvers,” he said.

Raoul Levert, the two- year-old son of Vincent Levert, is shown wearing the traditional child’s smock of the time in L’Enfant à l’Orange, with a broad smile in soft and vibrant colours. The identity of the child was confirmed by the late Adeline Ravoux, the daughter of the innkeeper, who was photographed standing next to Raoul outside the Auberge Ravoux in 1890.

Van Gogh became close to the Levert family. The carpenter was believed to have made wooden stretching frames for his paintings, perhaps including this one.

The artist’s interest in his nephew was an almost constant theme of his letters and his brother’s visit to Auvers in June doubtless stimulated his desire to paint young children. Johanna said of the visit: “Vincent came to meet us at the train, and he bought a bird’s nest as a plaything for his little nephew and namesake. He insisted on carrying the baby himself and had no rest until he had shown him all the animals in the doctor’s yard… Vincent was planning to do a portrait of Gachet’s daughter.”

After Van Gogh’s death, his body was placed in a decorated room at the Auberge Ravoux in a tribute by local people. Remembering the village commemoration shortly before her death, Mme Ravoux said: “Theo had placed all around canvases that Vincent had left there: The Church of Auvers, Irises, The Child with an Orange… At the foot of his coffin his palette and brushes were laid out. Our neighbour, M. Levert, the carpenter, lent the trestles. The child of this latter, two years old, had been painted by Van Gogh in the painting, The Child with an Orange. It was also M. Levert who made the coffin.”

Though it remains unclear precisely from what type of depressive medical condition Van Gogh suffered what is known is that his work was a window into his troubled life. As an Expressionist, his moods were frequently portrayed in his artworks, which he used to “rise again”. Writing to his beloved brother Theo, the artist said: “Well, even in that deep misery I felt my energy revive, and I said to myself: in spite of everything I shall rise again, I will take up my pencil”. Several paintings depict Van Gogh’s frequent bouts of despair, including Starry Night Over The Rhone, above, marked by dark colours and flickers of light. Van Gogh’s mood is believed to have gradually declined after moving to Paris in 1886 at the age of 33, and mingled with the artistic elites. He had an exceptionally delicate nervous system, not helped by excessive drinking of absinth, pipe-smoking and a bad diet which occasionally even included tasting his own paints.

Psychologists who have studied Van Gogh’s works believe that he plunged into depression after perceived threats to the difficult but loving relationships with those to whom he was closest, several of which revolved around Theo, whose marriage the artist saw as a threat.

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Van Gogh artwork on sale for $30m Thursday, Mar 13 2008

A Vincent van Gogh work, painted weeks before he killed himself, is going on the market for the first time in more than 90 years, valued at $30m (?15m).

L’Enfant a l’Orange – or The Child With An Orange – will go on sale next month at the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

The painting was created in 1890, a month before Van Gogh shot himself at the age of 37.

The joyful portrait contrasts with his other angst-ridden paintings.

The Child With An Orange was one of several works Van Gogh painted after spending time with his baby nephew and godson, named Vincent after the artist.

Van Gogh’s happiness at seeing his young nephew sparked an explosion of artistic energy in the last few weeks of his life.

The subject of the portrait is of two-year-old Raoul Levert, the son of a carpenter in the French village of Auvers, 25 miles north of Paris, where the artist spent some time before he died.

New York and London-based dealers Dickinson are organising next month’s sale.

In November, Van Gogh’s last ever work failed to sell at a New York auction.

The Wheat Fields did not reach its undisclosed reserve or attract a bid over $25m (?11.9m) at the time of sale.

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Monet, van Gogh paintings found Friday, Feb 29 2008

ZURICH, Switzerland — Two of four paintings stolen Feb. 10 from a private museum were found Monday in the backseat of a parked car, authorities said Tuesday. The paintings, by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, were in perfect condition.

The recovered paintings are to be returned to the E.G. Buehrle Collection in coming days, museum Director Lukas Gloor said. The other two paintings remain missing.

KIGALI, RWANDA: Bush says no to violence

After visiting a museum that tells the story of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, President George W. Bush urged the global community Tuesday to stop violence in nations such as Kenya and Sudan. “Evil must be confronted,” he said.

Rwanda was Bush’s third stop in Africa after Benin and Tanzania. He flew to Ghana on Tuesday and is to visit Liberia on Thursday.

YEREVAN, ARMENIA: Opposition set to protest

Armenians voted Tuesday in a presidential election, with the opposition already raising concerns that the balloting may be rigged.

Former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan said his supporters will protest in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, if they believe Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan won unfairly.

Sargsyan cited economic achievements that raised living standards. But Ter-Petrosyan said the expansion benefited the richest people most and that Sargsyan failed to seek a resolution to disputes with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Compiled from Free Press news services

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Stolen Monet, Van Gogh Paintings Found At Psychiatric Hospital In … Friday, Feb 29 2008

Zurich, Switzerland (AHN) – Paintings by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, which were stolen last week in one of the world’s largest art heists, were recovered in an abandoned car in Zurich, Switzerland.

The two paintings, worth an estimated $64 million dollars (44 million euros), were stolen from an museum in Zurich, but police say the artworks were found in good condition at the back seat of a car parked at a psychiatric hospital in the city.

“Poppies near Vetheuil” (1879) by Monet, and “Blossoming Chestnut Branch” (1890) by van Gogh, were positively identified by Lukas Gloor, the director of the Buehrle Museum where they were stolen last Sunday. Two other paintings, “Count Lepic and his Daughters” by Edgar Degas (1871), and “Boy in a Red Waistcoat” by Paul Cezanne (1888), are still missing.

According to the museum director, due to the immense popularity of the missing artworks, it would be nearly impossible for the thieves to sell them, especially in the open market.

The robbery at the Emil Buehrle museum on February 10 is considered as one of the largest art robberies in Europe in the last two decades. The three thieves remain at large. The museum had offered a reward money of 100,000 Swiss francs for any information leading to the paintings’ return.

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TripAdvisor Announces the Top 10 Most Popular Art Museums in the World Thursday, Feb 28 2008

NEEDHAM, Mass., Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ — TripAdvisor(R), the world’s largest travel community, today announced the top 10 art museums in the world, based on traffic to the attractions on tripadvisor.com.

1. Louvre Affair: Musee du Louvre, Paris, France

Once a fortified palace that was the home to kings of France, the Louvre is now the world’s most famous museum, renowned for some of the finest pieces of art in the world, including the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. According to one TripAdvisor traveler, “The world’s greatest museum-from its Italian Renaissance Masters, to its Dutch Masters and the exquisite collection from Egypt’s Pharaonic period. Each time I visit I always discover new treasures and I reacquaint myself with my favorites.”

2. Religious Experience: Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome, Italy

Spanning nearly nine miles, the Roman Catholic Church’s Vatican collection is one of the largest and most stunning in the world. Estimated to have more than four million visitors annually, the Vatican museums feature the art of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and, of course, Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. As one TripAdvisor traveler commented, “The amount of history and art that is located here is mind-boggling, from the frescoes to the statues, virtually every nook and corner (even the floor) is a treasure.”

3. Art in the Apple: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

From Picasso to Pollock, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on New York City’s Museum Mile, is one of the world’s largest museums with over two million pieces of artwork and enough variety for any enthusiast. Peruse the Greek sculptures, admire the armory or browse the 2,000 European paintings, all contained in a magnificent Beaux-Art façade building. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “The building itself is a work of art. This would be a great place to spend a day alone!”

4. Grand Getty: J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles, California

The Getty features a remarkable collection, including the works of Van Gogh, Monet and Cezanne. The museum’s structure is a piece of art in itself, and the grounds also feature beautiful gardens, and views of Los Angeles. As one TripAdvisor traveler offered, “Prepare to be spoiled-from the free admission, gorgeous gardens, views, good food, unsurpassed attention to detail, and oh yeah, the art-this place is one in a million!”

5. d’Orsay d’Light: Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France

Enjoy Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” inside the Musee D’Orsay, a former train station built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, with a dramatic glass roof. Specializing in 19th and 20th century artwork, the museum displays a striking collection of Impressionism, including famous works by Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Degas. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “It is much less crowded than the Louvre and features wonderful pieces of art. The museum is just the right size to see everything, including famous painter Whistler and Van Gogh self-portraits.”

6. Magnifico: Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Experience (or at least admire) Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” in the Uffizi Gallery, one of the oldest museums in the world featuring works from Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci in the heart of Florence. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “The building was originally built several centuries ago to display the vast Medici art collection. This is an absolutely wonderful museum and worth a tour.”

7. Millennium Museum: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Located on Chicago’s Loop, The Art Institute of Chicago boasts extensive Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections, including more than 30 pieces by Monet. Visit France from afar through Monet’s “Haystacks” and spending time “At the Moulin Rouge,” one of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous paintings. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “Art buffs will be able to spend all day here! Their regular exhibit is fabulous — one of my personal favorites is ‘Sunday in the Park.’ They also usually have an impressive special exhibit, too.”

8. Modern Mecca: Tate Modern, London, England

Enjoy the electric art at the Tate Modern, displayed in a former Bankside Power Station, with views of the Thames River and Millennium Bridge. Remember the “Forgotten Horizon,” one of Dali’s many masterpieces and part of one of the largest collections of Surrealism in the World. As one TripAdvisor member said, “It is a must see, both for its setting (along the Thames, housed in a defunct power plant) and its installations and stationary art collections.”

9. Painter’s Place: Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

One of the largest and most impressive collections in the world, not surprisingly, the Prado Museum is most famous for its assortment of works from Spanish artists such as Goya, Velasquez, Murillo, and El Greco. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “This is a first-class museum. Of course, the highlight is ‘Las Meninas’ but there is so much to see in this place.”

10. Capital Culture: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is comprised of an east and west building, and features a sculpture garden surrounding a large fountain. Modern art fans should head to the east building, where works by Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol are displayed. As one TripAdvisor traveler said, “For the art lover, it is paradise. Forget most of the other museums, spend a day or two in these galleries.”

“These museums are truly destinations in themselves, as travelers could easily get lost in them for at least a day,” said Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor. “This top 10 is a check list to see the very finest artwork in the world.”

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TripAdvisor(R) Media Network, operated by TripAdvisor, LLC, attracts nearly 30 million monthly visitors (source: comScore Media Metrix, Digital Calculator Report, July 2007) across eight popular travel brands, TripAdvisor(R) sites, bookingbuddy.com (TM), cruisecritic.com(TM), independenttraveler.com(TM), seatguru.com(R), smartertravel.com(TM), travel-library.com(TM) and travelpod.com(TM). TripAdvisor-branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 25 million monthly visitors, five million registered members and 10 million reviews and opinions. Featuring real advice from real travelers, TripAdvisor-branded sites cover 280,000+ hotels and attractions and operate in the U.S. (http://www.tripadvisor.com), the U.K. (http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk), Ireland (http://www.tripadvisor.ie), France (http://www.tripadvisor.fr), Germany (http://www.tripadvisor.de), Italy (http://www.tripadvisor.it), and Spain (http://www.tripadvisor.es). TripAdvisor(R) Media Network provides travel suppliers with graphical advertising opportunities and a cost-per-click marketing platform. Collectively, the sites comprising the TripAdvisor Media Network have won hundreds of awards and accolades from press and industry, worldwide. TripAdvisor and the sites comprising the TripAdvisor Media Network are operating companies of Expedia, Inc. NASDAQ: EXPE.

TripAdvisor, Seatguru, Travel-library and Travelpod are either registered trademarks or trademarks of TripAdvisor LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. Bookingbuddy and Smartertravel are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Smarter Travel Media LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. Cruise Critic and The Independent Traveler are either trademarks or registered trademarks of The Independent Traveler, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.

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Do You Have a Right to Avoid What You Don't Want to Hear? Thursday, Feb 28 2008

Flemming Rose’s heart is in the right place but he gives away too much (“Free Speech and Radical Islam,” op-ed, Feb. 15). Religious taboos don’t need to be treated with any greater sensibility than other ideas. Unfettered intellectual exchange, even when impolite or in vociferous criticism, is essential for a free society. Bluntly put: There is nothing that Theo van Gogh or Salman Rushdie or Kurt Westergaard created that merits their murder.

I remember Andres Serrano’s viciously anti-Christian work being exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, and despite the outrage Mr. Serrano is not in hiding. The point is not that Christians are more tolerant than Islamic fundamentalists (although that may be true), but that in our culture even odious free speech trumps ordinary religious sensitivities.

Mr. Rose, free speech is not a “taboo” amenable to barter, it is an essential component of civilized life. It would be a tragic mistake to force writers and artists into “tastefulness” in the hope that crazed individuals won’t put a price on their heads. It took hundreds of years to achieve our freedoms and respect for individual rights, and we’d be fools to surrender them to irrational zealots.

Benson, Ariz.

Mr. Rose gives an eloquent defense of free speech, and his quote of George Orwell (“…the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”) captures the essence of the issue precisely.

Unfortunately, when he looks to the European Union members for leadership on free speech, he may be looking in the wrong place. In particular, in Holland — the homeland of Theo van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali — the government is on record opposing free speech, arguing the opposite of what Orwell proposed.

In the words of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (Christmas speech, 2006), who in these speeches is, by law, the voice of the government rather than merely an individual stating a personal opinion: “A right to offend does not exist. Nor is freedom of religion a license to injure.”

Indeed we need a global movement to protect free speech. And that movement will have work to do not just in the countries Mr. Rose mentions, but also in Europe — or at least in parts of it.

New Boston, N.H.

With at best barely enough resources to monitor and analyze a sea of jihadist electronic communications, American intelligence officials lack the time and personnel to inadvertently or even intentionally violate the privacy of more than a handful of persons not representing a genuine risk. Several years after the World Trade Center attacks, it is difficult to find bona fide evidence of official abuse of inappropriately acquired private information. Yet Congress refuses to provide a permanent legal framework for electronic monitoring, and critics treat these programs as a serious danger to our fundamental liberties.

By contrast, as Mr. Rose points out, hundreds of millions are voluntarily relinquishing their right to free speech, not at the hands of tyrannical government officials but from fear of rioters and street thugs. It is no accident that the first amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech. Without the right to peaceably assemble and speak out, all other rights would soon be meaningless.

Ben Franklin observed, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Often cited by opponents of democratic governments combating threats, Mr. Franklin would likely be far more distressed by the hundreds of millions of free people so ready to relinquish their hard-won rights to hoodlums’ intimidation.

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Activist speaks out for women Thursday, Feb 28 2008

First there was Ali’s suspenseful story. She was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and grew up in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya. She was raised in a traditional Mus­lim culture and was promised in marriage to a distant cousin. Ali said she fled to the Netherlands because she didn’t want to marry.

There, Ali’s life of freedom fighting — especially for women — began, as did the broader threats on her life. When she reached the Netherlands, Ali said, she discovered that radical Islam wasn’t confined by geographical borders. When she ad­dressed the packed Silver Eagle Suite in the UNT Union, she reminded the audience that Texas isn’t a safe haven, either.

She recounted the story of Egyptian-born taxi driver Yaser Abdel Said, who al­legedly killed his teenage daughters, Amina and Sarah Yaser Said, in Las Collinas.

The girls’ crime?

“They were dating American boys,” Ali said.

Ali explained how extremist Islamic theology ossifies cultural strictures that condone domestic violence, female genital mutilation and honor killings. When Muslim clans and tribes interpret the Holy Quran literally, female chastity and fidelity are guarded both by devotional habits and in legal terms. Sharia law, Ali said, gives Islamic scripture legal bearing. In radical Islamic societies, she said, the cultural onus is on women to keep their virtue intact. At one point, she referred to the practices as “a cult of virginity in Islam.”

“Boys and men are taught that their sexual urges are irresistible, and that the sight of a uncovered female hair or skin is to confront them with a temptation that is larger than themselves,” she said.

In her criticism of genital mutilation, family violence and honor killings, Ali said she often becomes the butt of criticism herself.

“I have been criticized for not separating religion and culture. For instance, I have been criticized for calling female genital mutilation a religion practice when it is carried out by African clans or tribes who happen to be Muslim  When we are discussing these things, we are often asked whether we are discussing religion, culture or politics. For so many Muslims, they are one and the same,” she said.

The audience brought up Ali’s short film Submission, directed by Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. In the film, Van Gogh filmed four verses of the Quran written on the naked bodies of women. Van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim who considered the film heresy. Ali went into hiding after the director’s death, and security was reportedly high for her North Texas visit.

A woman who identified herself as an Indian-born Muslim, and who said she found Ali’s short film “appalling,” told Ali she had vilified and defamed Islam in the film.

“This is a familiar statement for me,” Ali said. “I am used to this statement, that I have vilified Islam. You should know that you cannot criticize Islam. You don’t do it. Well, let me explain one of the verses I used. It is chapter 24, verse 2, which says: Flog the adulterer and the adulteress 100 times. If Islam is a true religion, it will be there, if you vilify it or defame it, it will be there. You and I were born into the religion. I think we should be more appalled by flogging of a girl 200 times than the vilifying or defaming of Islam.”

Another audience member asked how her travels and experiences with different cultures informed her views on what he called male genital mutilation.

“In Holland, I encountered this issue before, I was asked about this before,” Ali said. “I always say that, by that logic, you should not touch the genitals of a baby, and if a person wishes to refine their genitals, then the person waits until he or she is 18 years old and then they should pay for it with their own money.”

Her remark drew applause, and Ali continued.

“But in the Western context, you can debate it,” she said. “You can research it. You can talk about it. And it is a humane operation for the child. There is a choice, not for the child, but for the people considering it. With female genital mutilation, it is deemed taboo. We don’t talk about it. We say ‘we don’t do it’ or ‘it is our culture.’ This is not the same procedure. This is done on kitchen tables with knives or broken glass. It is not the same thing at all.”

The crowd cheered and applauded the answer. 

Ali addressed other questions, saying that radical Islam has power in Europe and the United States, and that the countries have had difficulty tracking and documenting violence against women because of the fear of stigmatizing minorities.

Ultimately, Ali said, the peaceful practice of Islam depends on Muslims. However, Americans and other Westerners can’t afford to view the violent consequences for Muslim women as matters of geography.

Ali was brought to the university by the UNT Distinguished Lecture Series and the World Affairs Council. It was the inauguration of the international lecture series Encounters.

LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877. Her e-mail address is cbreeding@dentonrc.com. 

 

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Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne stolen Tuesday, Feb 26 2008

Police have not revealed the name of the museum where yesterday’s theft took place, saying only that it is in the 8th district of the Swiss city.

That district is home to the Emil Buehrle Foundation, a private collection founded by a Zurich industrialist that boasts many Impressionist works.

"French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism constitute the core of the collection," the museum’s website says. No one from the foundation was immediately available for comment.

The theft worth 100 million Swiss francs ($A101.6 million) came just days after thieves stole two paintings by Pablo Picasso worth $US4.5 million ($A5 million) from a cultural centre in eastern Switzerland.

A police news conference is expected later today.

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