Quick sketch, pen and ink. A5 paper. 7th October 2009.
This is a case of something I felt I just had to do finally being realised. A year and a half ago I was in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. To my mind, a museum is a place to study and learn from great objects of antiquity, and I was really looking forward to it. I did not expect to be able to take photographs, but I did take a notebook and sketchbook to take notes and drawings of what I saw. In this sense I was following a line of people from several hundred years ago who would (rightly) go back to study art from the masters. I went as an ordinary paying visitor, and didn't expect any special privileges, but did expect to be able to carefully study what was being shown from the vantage point offered.
One or two items had special signs saying "no photographs may be taken of this object". Of course that was OK. I was not taking photographs. I started to sketch. I was told very quickly that "no photographs" was intended to mean no note-taking, no drawing, no sketches, nothing. In fact, as far as I could see it was exactly against the point of a museum.
I went to different parts of the museum. Some places I made quick sketches without being stopped. All around me there were tourists taking photographs of everything (except those items with "no photographs" signs). This was until I went to the area with vases and I started taking notes and drawing the decorations on ancient Greek vases. (There was no special sign on these vases.) At this point for no obvious reason I was treated as a criminal. I was accosted by two museum officials, and told in broken English to sit down. My notebook was confiscated, and I was put under guard while they took my notebook to a superior officer. I received no explanation of why at any stage. Ten or fifteen minutes later the person that had taken my notebook returned it to say that it was OK. Again no explanation or apology. I still felt like a criminal, actually wanting to look at these objects, rather just be a tourist and at that point I had no desire to do anything but leave immediately. It was an unpleasant experience that cost me time and a not insignificant entrance fee.
I since found out that there is some very special Greek law forbidding photographs or sketches of certain items of "national importance". There is no equivalent law in any other country as far as I know. I do not approve of this, but it perhaps explains the particular items with "no photography" signs. However it does not explain the rest. This is a museum, and one is supposed to go to a museum to learn. What are the Greeks doing preventing people being properly educated of their own national treasures?
So I promised myself I would go some time to see the Parthenon Marbles, or Elgin Marbles if you prefer, in the British Museum, London. I was nearby yesterday and had only a few minutes, but went. My object was simply to see them, make one quick drawing and then leave, in order to make my next appointment on time.
Firstly there was no entrance fee. I was invited to leave an appropriate donation, that was all. The next most obvious thing was there was at that time a party of school children learning about the marbles, ancient Greek culture, making notes and drawings. This was something I did not see in Athens. And finally I made my drawing, and was in fact encouraged by the officials present in a friendly way, and I then left.
So what I want to know is: is the world, or Greece even, going to be any better off if these marbles are sent to Athens to be shown under highly restrictive terms? Will people (amateurs like me, but still following on in the footsteps of many who have done the "Grand Tour" to "Learn from the Masters") who wish to study and learn from these wonderful objects be able to do this if they went to Greece? Whether or not they would be put under the special schedule of artefacts of national importance in Greece I am quite sure that the answer would be No.
I will return to the British Museum in November, when I am next in London, and will plan my time better to be able to spend more time there. It's a wonderful place.
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