January 5, 2023

Good morning. ☁️ After a few days of relative calm, the controversies are back. Take for example the story of a lecturer at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, who was reportedly fired for showing students medieval depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in class. Local media reported that the professor gave students a "two-minute content warning" before showing the images, which are actually part of the Islamic art canon (the prohibition of figurative representation in Islam was a gradual process and it varies across sects and traditions). But there was at least one student who found these paintings offensive.

And in Denmark, a gallery found it right to display a racist artwork showing a Chanel perfume bottle labeled “N’19 COVID China.” A Chinese student who happened by the gallery refused to take it, and decided to take action.

And here's one last controversy: Archaeologists are furious at Netflix for airing a docuseries promoting "pseudoarchaeology." They called the show — starring journalist Graham Hancock — "racist" and "harmful." Historian Sarah E. Bond covers all sides of this story for us today.

There's much more, including impressions from a Rosa Bonheur survey at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Who am I kidding? This one also got mired in controversy.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

Why Archaeologists Are Fuming Over Netflix's Ancient Apocalypse Series

In an open letter, the Society for American Archaeology accused journalist Graham Hancock's docuseries of disparaging experts while promoting “racist, white supremacist ideologies.” | Sarah E. Bond

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Detail of Mustafa ibn Vali, “The Angel Gabriel meets ‘Amr ibn Zaid (the Shepherd)” (c. 1595), from the Siyer-i Nebi (the Life of the Prophet) (via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

• A professor at Minnesota’s Hamline University is reportedly fired for showing Medieval paintings depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

• New York Governor Kathy Hochul has vetoed a bill creating an “Unmarked Burial Site Protection Act,” drawing sharp criticism from Native activists. 

• Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting are suing Paramount Pictures over the inclusion of an underage nude scene in “Romeo and Juliet” (1968).

• A Danish artist mocks an art student who protested his racist “Covid China” artwork.

LATEST REVIEWS

Rosa Bonheur’s Animal Instinct

Her art demonstrates a grasp of animal nature beyond picturesque figures in a landscape or sentimental stand-ins for human emotion. | Bridget Quinn

Yun-Fei Ji's Great Leap Forward

The Chinese painter learned the state-sanctioned style of Socialist Realism and then elected to unlearn it in order to reinvent himself. | John Yau

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IN MEMORIAM

Ronald Feldman (1938–2022)
New York gallerist | New York Times

Arata Isozaki (1931–2022)
Japanese architect who designed LA’s MOCA | Guardian

Aaron Levine (1934–2023)
American art collector | Artnews

Hans Mayer (1940–2022)
German art dealer | Artnews

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