Waterhouses small-breasted Nymphs are not girls | Art

The lessons of the Hylas affair (The Nymphs and me, G2, 20 March) are threefold. First, works in art galleries should not be arranged according to what the curators think they are about. The dividing line between telling visitors what they ought to think and telling them what they ought not to think (which is

ArtLetters

Waterhouse’s small-breasted Nymphs are not girls

Mary Hayward takes Manchester Art Gallery to task

The lessons of the Hylas affair (The Nymphs and me, G2, 20 March) are threefold. First, works in art galleries should not be arranged according to what the curators think they are about. The dividing line between telling visitors what they ought to think and telling them what they ought not to think (which is censorship) is narrow and easily crossed. Second, it is only in pornography that all adult women have big breasts. If the female figures in a painting have small breasts that does not mean that they are girls. At least three of Waterhouse’s nymphs have adult faces – and it’s supposed to be men who never look above the neck. Third, disrespecting someone’s work seemingly to promote your own is not a good idea. No one is going to write about Sonia Boyce again without mentioning the Manchester Art Gallery censorship row. Are they?
Mary Hayward
Fareham, Hampshire

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