Museum apologizes after child asked to stop sketching painting

• By Ko Yu-hao and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts apologized yesterday for banning children from copying paintings by freehand drawing. Visitors are welcome to make sketches of the paintings on drawing tablets or sketch pads.

The museum made the comment after a museum visitor nicknamed “Mickeyelk Gesner” posted on Facebook on Thursday that her son was sketching a Pablo Picasso painting on a tablet computer at the “Capturing the Moment” exhibit on Wednesday when a museum employee asked him to stop drawing.

“The staff told us: ‘Only photography is allowed. No copying. That’s a rule,'” she quoted the employee as saying.

Photo: CNA

Doctor Lee Chia-yan (李佳燕), who witnessed the incident at the museum, said in a Facebook post on Friday that she was appalled by the way staff handled the matter, which was “completely contrary to the usual practices of the world’s leading art museums.”

“Art museums should not be haughty and condescending to visitors. It is not a place where adults can be artsy and fake, but a place that is pleasantly accessible to people, especially children,” Lee said.

The museum is “a public asset” of the city and should help promote children’s artistic skills and appreciation, Lee added.

The museum announced yesterday that it aims to align itself with international practices and create better experiences for visitors as a social and educational institution that facilitates the enjoyment of art.

The company apologized to the public for the disputes caused by inappropriate management and communication and promised to improve staff training to provide visitor-friendly services.

Museum visitors are allowed to make sketches on drawing tablets or sketch pads at the exhibition venues. Detailed information on this is available on the museum’s website, it said. In addition, everyone is welcome to explore the classic works of art created by renowned international artists during the summer holidays.

The Chimei Museum, a renowned museum in Tainan, and Britain’s Tate Modern, one of the museums that contributed artworks to the Kaohsiung Museum’s exhibition, are allowing visitors to copy paintings by freehand drawing, said the Facebook fan page “Takao Gooday” (高雄好過日) on Friday.

“The whole incident shows that the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, an art center in southern Taiwan with a 30-year history, has a disappointing attitude toward art education and promotion,” added Takao Gooday.

“Copying” and “freehand drawing” are two different things when it comes to visitors imitating a painting with drawings, said literary and historical scholar Wei Tsong-jou (魏聰洲) in a Facebook post on Friday.

“To ‘copy’ painting exhibitions, one must submit an application and then undergo an examination,” said Wei. “For ‘Free Drawing’, no application is required and it is considered a way to appreciate works of art in the spirit of museum education.”

The museum seemed “unable to distinguish between freehand drawing and copying” and made the child feel like he had “made a mistake and asked him to leave the place in fear,” Wei said.