Piss Christ in Avignon

Note: As I post, the most recent news is that the Piss Christ was destroyed by Catholic protesters on Saturday April 16, who entered the museum and smashed the plexiglass covering the photo. However, more details will be forthcoming. The amount of commentary on this event is more than I can handle in one post.

The city of Avignon has been in the news, especially at Catholic websites. In a nutshell, an art exhibit entitled "Je crois aux miracles" (I believe in miracles) has been open to the public since December 12 at the Hôtel de Caumont, where the Yvon Lambert collection of contemporary art has resided since 2000.

One of the works on display is the infamous Piss Christ by the American-born Andres Serrano, of Honduran and Afro-Cuban ancestry.

A petition, an outcry, prayers, angry letters, and pressure from the Archbishop succeeded in having the posters of the work removed from the streets of Avignon, where they served as publicity for the exhibit. The original photo was also removed from the museum. Catholics feared the work would mar the Holy Week observances.

But this outcry occurred three months after the opening of the exhibit, and even though the offending photo and posters were removed, they were replaced two days later. It seems the artist, Andres Serrano, is in the good graces of the bishops of France. The following is from Yves Daoudal's weekly Hebdo #123, but the story has been widely reported:

On April 7, AGRIF announced legal action against the organizers of an art exhibit in Avignon, on grounds that a photo by Andres Serrano showing a crucifix immersed in the artist's urine is an "act of racism that targets Christians in the very heart of their faith."

The following day, Archbishop Cattenoz of Avignon demanded that "this photo that mocks the image of Christ on the cross, the heart of our Christian faith" be removed.

The archbishop also said he had "tried urgently to reach the person responsible for the exhibit."

Urgently? But the publicity posters had been tacked on the walls of Avignon for three months. The exhibit opened December 12. And will only be there a few more days until May 8. (…)

What we do know is that nobody in Avignon alerted AGRIF or the archbishop before late March. No Catholic, no priest, was intrigued by this exhibit entitled "I believe in miracles", decorated with the strange crucifix.

Yet, with a few clicks on the Internet, you can know everything about the exhibit and the crucifix. And everything about Andres Serrano's works. And see pages and pages full of his repugnant photos. Serrano not only mocks Christ on the cross. This photo (in fact it is one of ten of the same abject image) is part of the "immersions" series that includes also a Virgin with child, for example… There is also a series of photos of his excrement. Pipi and caca: we can see the mental age of the artist. His series "The History of Sex" is quite simply pornographic. As for his series "The Morgue" it is an unqualified assault on human dignity. It is intolerable that Philippe Isnard be dismissed from his teaching position for showing what an abortion is, and that Andres Serrano be acclaimed as a great artist when he photographs an eviscerated body or pieces of bleeding flesh.

Note: Click here for some photos of Serrano's work. Some of the photos are OK, others are disgusting. Be advised.

Philippe Isnard, mentioned above, was fired from his position as a teacher for engaging in discussions about abortion with his students. Among other things, he showed a film entitled No Need to Argue that exposes the reality of abortion.

Serrano is one of many examples of the culture of death in art. The blasphemy against Christ is only the diabolical emblem of the desire to sully and destroy man in his humanity. It is the revolt against creation that becomes necessarily the revolt against the Incarnation.

Apparently Archbishop Cattenoz appears not to have been aware that Andres Serrano is an artist recognized by the French bishops. Writer Rémi Fontaine (in his book The Black Book of the Bishops of France) recalls that the archbishop of Poitiers, Albert Rouet, was co-author of a book entitled The Church and Avant-Garde Art - From Provocation to Dialogue - Flesh and God, with a preface by the bishop of Châlons-en-Champagne. In the book we find not only the Piss Christ of Andres Serrano, but other "works" just as blasphemous and repugnant. The book is presented at the website of the Conference of French Bishops:

"The avant-garde of the world of Art speaks with originality about us, about AIDS, about solitude, about bodies, about taboos. Can we listen and understand the men of today?

Is the Catholic Church, after centuries of being a center of creation, still capable of having a dialogue with contemporary artists? This is the challenge we face." (…)

The co-author of the book, Gilbert Brownstone, tells how he organized trips to New York for the bishops so that they might discover the marvels of contemporary art. He had them visit the Andres Serrano studio. Thus the bishops could attest "that there has never been for Serrano the slightest desire to offend the crucified one," because "he uses the infamous liquid to exploit the stunning plastic qualities." And the bishops discovered "a great artist of this century, possessing one of the most exact visions of the world around us."

It is obvious that AGRIF has no chance of succeeding. It was enough for the lawyers of Yvon Lambert (owner of the collection) to bring this book to the hearing, to show that Andres Serrano is recognized as a great artist and that the Piss Christ is not an offense to Christ.

Daoudal mentions the website Arts-Cultures-Foi that "is a part of the media of the French Catholic Church", and its sister website Artistes en dialogue where you can view the works of Serrano, in particular the series La Morgue. The photos are in the left margin, with commentary in French to the right. These particular photos may upset some. Why would the bishops endorse such works? Daoudal explains that not all bishops feel committed to contemporary art but they all must follow those who are set up as "authorities".

Archbishop Cattenoz, in addition to his communiqué, published a longer text in which he vehemently presents his argument. But he must be aware that his remarks, especially those addressed to the public authorities, have no influence, since Andres Serrano is supported by the Conference of French bishops, and is one of the twelve artists selected by Gilbert Louis, bishop of Châlons-en-Champagne, to be part of the exhibit "Flesh and God in contemporary creation"…

So it would appear that the bishops must follow the dictates of the most radical among them.

Below, images taken on Saturday of the demonstration against the exhibit in Avignon.




Above, Serrano in front of the vandalized photo. There are other copies. According to the left-wing Liberation:

In thirty-five years, this work has been shown everywhere, including Lille and even in Avignon in a monograph of the artist. Attacks have been rare, but a copy was destroyed in Melbourne, and a neo-nazi group pillaged a Serrano exhibit in Sweden 9n 2007. Notified yesterday (April 17), the artist was very upset, as was Yvon Lambert, to whom Serrano had given the work as a gift for the tenth anniversary of his museum. The UMP mayor, Marie-José Roig, expressed her solidarity with the museum. Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterand condemned "an attack on the freedom of creation," but acknowledged that the work could shock some people."

Libération notes these words of Archbishop Cattenoz:

"If a photo representing a Koran soaking in urine were displayed as a work of art, the reaction of the local authorities and the State, would be immediate."