why do you think anyone will come up with this question: saving this or that ? taking this or that ? can't you just let the house burning ? can't you just live alone ?
Luc ----- Original Message ---- From: Michael Brady <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2009 6:36:11 PM Subject: Re: Why is it that some people believe that artworks have to be saved ? On May 5, 2009, at 11:31 AM, Chris Miller wrote: > A house is burning, and all you can rescue is either the Rembrandt on the > wall or the kitten on the floor. Which would you choose ? Your house is burning. Everybody is out, and you still have time to retrieve a few items--probably no more than five trips, if you take small things, or four trips if you decide to save a large item. Which things on this list do you save, and in which order (in case the fire burns faster than you thought it would)? Your wife's wedding dress, which your daughter wants to wear next month for her wedding An Arshile Gorky painting A disputed work of an artist in the studio of Titian Your son's golden retriever, which you got for him on his eighth birthday A first edition of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason The fire safe with your important family papers and financial documents (heavy--counts as two) Or here's another scenario, which doesn't involve burning: You're on a desert island. You can leave with two things in the boat with you. Which will you take, and which leave behind? One of Picasso's studies for Guernica Your ex-spouse, with whom you have only cordial but decidedly cool contact An aboriginal sculpture, which no one in the West has seen before and which, being made of wood, might perish if it's not rescued and stored in an air conditioned building. Five small reptiles which you are sure are also unknown to science --- but they might carry swine flu or worse. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Michael Brady [email protected]
