Munich Museum Alters Title of Painting Depicting Native Americans, Spurring Pushback
The Lenbachhaus museum in Munich has redacted part of the title of a 112-year-old August Macke painting depicting Native Americans, a decision that has spurred controversy in Germany.
The Macke work, previously titled Indians on Horseback Near a Tent (1911), has been in Lenbachhaus’s collection since 1964, and has hung ever since with that name. But the museum recently changed it so that the word “Indians” now appears as “I******” in its English label, with a similarly styled version for its German counterpart.
The right-wing tabloid Bild accused the museum of “woke madness” in its display copy for its story about the redaction .
Manuel Petzl, the parliamentary leader for the Christian Social Union, told Bild , “Everyone should speak as they want. However, I am against adapting historical works to the current spirit of the times. Intervening in the work of an important artist who can no longer defend himself borders on censorship.”
On Monday, Lenbachhaus issued a lengthy statement denying that it had censored the Macke work’s title.
“As a public museum, we are obliged to critically reflect on the Blue Rider and his work in a historical context,” the institution wrote. “Dealing with the history and art of the early 20th century requires dealing with historical sources whose language and images can sometimes contain derogatory or even racist elements.”
The statement also clarified why the title had been restyled: “The work title given by Köhler is sometimes perceived as racist by our national and especially international guests, which is why we do not want to reproduce it on the title plate without comment. Replacing the letters of the so-called I-word with an asterisk (I*******) allows you to clearly identify which word it is. At the same time, people affected by the foreign name are not immediately offended by the word. In the booklet and the text next to the painting, we wrote out the word in quotation marks because the term is critically contextualized there.”
Macke was one of the artists involved in Der Blaue Reiter , an early 20th-century avant-garde movement whose members sought to portray nature via colorful abstract forms. Lenbachhaus’s holdings related to the movement are particularly rich, and are set to constitute the bulk of a Tate Modern show devoted to Der Blaue Reiter this year.
In its statement, Lenbachhaus said that Macke had never titled the painting in question. Instead, its former owner, Bernhard Köhler, lent the work its name.
At the time that this painting entered the Lenbachhaus collection, the offending term in its title was utilized to refer to Native Americans and was widely used by the general public. Today, it has fallen out of favor and is generally viewed as racist when used by non-Indigenous people.
The retitled Macke work, a painting that shows figures with headdresses on horseback near a teepee, is not one of the artist’s most well-known pieces, but it is not the only one he painted depicting Native Americans. In an essay on these paintings, art historian Marie Watkins noted that Indians on Horseback Near a Tent contains “romanticized and stereotypical imagery” and that with it, Macke had “misread Native American society.”
LINK TO ARTICLE: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/lenbachhaus-alters-august-macke-painting-title-native-americans-controversy-1234695079/
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This isn't ''woke madness'' it people making decision that they don't know anything about. The term ''Indian'' is not derogatory at all and is used by Indian people everyday. Indian is interchangeable with Native American, American Indian, Indigenous, or Native.
The Germans have this fetish with Indians and there are clubs in Germany that try and become Indians, having Pow Wows, and other ceremonies, it is the most bizarre thing that I've ever seen and I've seen it in person.
I'm sure that they are aware of the Smithsonian and
National Museum of the American Indian
OK then... Now that is just straight up strange, but there is another way to look at this.
I think this is part of German culture. They seem to take to things they find strange or alien and get into it. That is why there were a lot of "Avant-garde" clubs right before WWII. Think of the play "Cabaret"
Indian Club,Willkommen!
You’re right, that have had cowboy’s and Indian clubs for decades. I always took it as a social clubs with a focus on a part of American history. I don’t think any disrespect was ever intended.
I think it's well beyond that, some of them actually think that they are Indian on the inside. Some even tried to learn the Lakota language.
I talked to some of them and I thought I was in a parallel universe, they were kinda telling me they knew more about Indians then I did...LOL, anyhow the cognac was good.
20+ years ago in western colorado, I had 2 german tourists ask me where they should go to see some cowboys and indians. like the 60's black and white TV western variety... I'm sure I had some fun with that.
The fascination began in the late 19th century with books written by a German author, I don't remember the name but they were quite successful.
it wasn't the first time I'd heard something along those lines from a visitor to the US.
my last job exposed me to a lot of foreign visitors and I enjoyed their different perspectives.
That is alway interesting and it was one of my pleasure when business travel around the world, different cultures/languages from the FE to the Med, south and central America, I love it.
This coming from Germany is really a surprise. They've got the audacity to claim they "know" what offends and what doesn't to different cultures?
The work title given by Köhler is sometimes perceived as racist by our national and especially international guests, which is why we do not want to reproduce it on the title plate without comment. Replacing the letters of the so-called I-word with an asterisk (I*******) allows you to clearly identify which word it is. At the same time, people affected by the foreign name are not immediately offended by the word. In the booklet and the text next to the painting, we wrote out the word in quotation marks because the term is critically contextualized there.”
So, if the people "affected" by the foreign name are not offended??????
Who the hell are you to tell them they SHOULD BE OFFENDED?????
It's someone who knows nothing about our culture making a decision based on their misconceptions of culture/language. It's called arrogance or privilege.
I think that's a pretty good description of "woke madness".
Being from right of the political spectrum I'm sure that you would, but you have never had to deal with it so for you it's hypothetical and if you don't think that it comes from the right as well you are badly mistaken.
Waanakiwin
What do politics have to do with this?
How would you know anything about what I've dealt with or haven't?
What? Bias?
Peace to you as well
Where do you think the term ''woke'' came from it is used every day in political discourse, especially from the right.
I don't know everything that you've dealt with but I do know that you've never had to deal with what is discussed and presented in the article and my comments unless you are an Indian and that is what is being discussed.
Arrogance and privilege
Baamaapii
Indeed
I have to say, I was kind of shocked to hear Indian was an offensive word.
I've never been offended, LOL.
How utterly nutty.
signed,
An American I*****
LOLOLOL
Why didn't they just use the term Native Americans?
you could fill in those stars with just about anything and that would make it worse
ya think? like random or specific? example: ******* vs. **** *** ?
This is just another viewpoint which nobody here has mentioned, but Indians, the inhabitants of India in sub-continental Asia have never thought it appropriate that Native Americans were called "Indians".
I realize that is not the topic but think maybe it is most pertinent...
In total there are what? 1,000 "Indians" for every Native American?
Are their feelings irrelevant to Americans? Aren't they relevant too?
In 1492 there was no country named India, it was Hindustan the first known name of India was Bharat or Bharata.
In English people from ''India'' call it India but in the native languages it is known as Bharat, Bharata and Hindustan and that is also what India is called in their constitution.
India as we know it has changed its name more than once and currently Mondi is changing the names of towns from English back to native names.
here out west I have no problem telling the ******* from the **********...
When I first started reading the article I thought that maybe they didn't want viewers to think that it could have meant EAST Indians, but then I saw the ridiculous "woke" bit. This got me wondering if it's possible for the majority in Indiana to rename their State I******.