526 Never again.

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I wish I wasn’t so worn out today.  I’d like to go over some of the points raised in the comments from Monday’s post. All I’ve got in me is a thank you.  I enjoyed reading your opinions.  Continuing with the poll questions…

If you had one of Adolf Hitler’s paintings would you display it?

The DA kids were fairly evenly split on this one.  Displaying it is winning out though.  As far as me goes, I couldn’t do it.  I wouldn’t want to be reminded of the man constantly, or at least any more than the world demands you be reminded.  I’m not one for superstition, but I feel like there’d be a tangible evil radiating from it.  Which is silly, but there’s some juju I’d rather not mess with, dig?

I don’t know how the Hell I’d come into possesion of such a thing, but I’d sell it as quick as I could.  It seems to me like keeping such a thing would taint you.  (Hee hee, taint.  XD)

21 Comments

Depends, is it one he painted or one he confiscated?

If it’s one he painted, it would depend upon the quality of it. If it was so artistically good that it’s up there with a Van Gogh, a Monet, or some such, I might, but it wouldn’t be displayed in a prominent position in my house, maybe sell it off to a museum if I got uncomfortable with it in my house. If he painted it, but it was mediocre or bad, that one’s going in a fire. If it was one he confiscated, I’d probably try and get it back to its rightful owners.

A similar question, would you listen to David Koresh’s album that he made before his Branch-Davidian cult? He actually tried to be a rock star.

I hate to say it, but… burning original artwork = not cool.
I’d prolly keep it; by the time he became such a nutbar, he’d stopped painting. I like paintings, and hoarding.

Well I wouldn’t display a picture of Adolf Hitler….I’d turn around and sell it. for uber monies. and use the monies to get my ass out of debt.

but if I had to just post it or not? that’s a dividing line for me. I mean, yes he was the man who was solely responsible for the holocaust. I might just put out a glass case, stuff it in there, make that BULLETPROOF glass case, and say to people, throw fruit, tomatoes, shoot the damn thing; show your hatred for hilter! ooo that would make a cool band name/song name **scribble scribble**.

I might hang it in my window to piss of my neighbors tho, grrr….

Painting by Hitler, not of. Before he was a genocidal fascist dictator, he was told by art school that he sucked.
Also – it pains me to agree with the jedi (Peace is a lie, there is only passion! Through passion, I gain strength! Through strength, I gain power! Through power, I gain victory! Through victory, my chains are broken; the Force shall free me.) hatred leads only to suffering.
Ugh. Apparently I get sanctimonious after just 21 hours of loafing about uselessly.

I’d like to say I would display it, but I was recently offered a samurai sword complete with photos of it being tested on prisoners in WW2 and there were bad vibes- irrational but there it is, so probably no for the ju ju factor.

I’d take a photograph of myself with the painting, from several angles, then sell it.

I’d think almost every art gallery and museum in the world would want it, so why keep it when I could get make money off it?

With the realistic outcome out of the way, I’d like to say that I’d consider displaying it if it’s something that I think would look good in my living room.

I mean, yeah, the story behind the man who made the art is an interesting one that would most certainly change how you view their work, but I feel the work should be able to say what it wants for itself.

Random relevant trivia: The song “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins was made while the lead singer and songwriter, Billy Corgan, was being put under a lot of pressure from the studio executives to write a hit, while suffering from suicidal depression and writers block and having the rest of the band almost entirely useless due to their own personal problems.

Knowing what you know now, listen to the song again and your view on it will have changed, maybe quietly, maybe very loudly, but they will change because you know what went into making it, and knowing how something is made changes how you see it.

or you can go my route… somehow always get the work done while always look like your doin nothing… and have the kind of personailty that higher ups like without having to suck up… and then whenever a SSGT does something real stupid tell him to his face… and when you are always right and one of them decides to get upset at you tell them to talk to your commanding officer… when they do the commanding officer checks to see if you were right… and when you are he tells the SSGT he’s an idiot… simple as that… but then you do have to have a very good sense for personalities and such so you know what you can and can’t get away with… always so complicated.

I don’t have the juju problem. It is just a piece of history, as scummy as he was. I would display it as a way of not censoring the past.

Sorry I would just burn it.

It was not good enough to get him to art school and the only reason it look with that much attention is what he did to the world, jewish people, and anyone who was not white.

That would leave a bad impression that more interesting the artist is than his work itself.

I’d have to see and otherwise experience the work in question; there’s no question that some objects have an emotional response to them that can be completely at-odds with the visual form. The character of the creator and their mood in the creation of something, plus the attitudes of those who’ve held on to whatever it is since its creation seems to rub off in some touchy-feely manner quite often. I’ve noticed that with cars and houses at least and sometimes also for paintings as well.
Good art however is not always about a positive experience. An ominous picture of a massive monument that feels dark, twisted and evil might be something to display because it makes you feel disturbed or even scared in its presence. If his personality and talent combined to make a work of such potency then there is surely a place it ought to hang.
Still, they never let him into art school so I have my doubts he made anything particularly worthwhile in painting. If it’s garbage then sell it to whatever fool will buy.

Malkamar. You’re dead right of course re: not censoring the past and I wish I didn’t have the ju ju problem, so yeah, it should be displayed maybe just not at my place- somewhere contextual like a museum or his bunker?

Re the bunker. I heard it was destroyed but also that there was a move to build a memorial on the site- again a “not censoring the past” type move.

Well there is also the problem between not censoring the past, and glorifying it/ not moving on. I recall a case quite a while ago involving a night club. They had a law passed where no new business could be built within x distance of one of the camps that was being preserved. Now that was fine but the problem arose when someone built a nightclub right outside of that limit, perfectly within their rights and were lambasted by the international community for being disrespectful. I’m sorry but people also have to LIVE in that area and there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

The painting should be displayed as part of the context of knowing who Hitler was, and getting a better understanding of him as a person to try and get his motivations. Just burning something of that significance would be incredibly stupid. It would serve to do nothing but remove a path to history. Now if someone had his toothpick collection? My line is drawn, go ahead and burn that shit. The only reason to even have the painting would be to display it. Why would you want to hide it? If you hide it, it feels to me like you are hiding away a private personal treasure or something which is far closer to giving me the jujus than just displaying the thing.

I had to go find some of the work in question, and there is no doubt in my mind that I would never purchase or display any of that. Boring and blah, the only way I would think that was good would be if a family member had done it.

And no, it being Hitler’s wouldn’t be some sort of extra incentive.

Having international attention (re) drawn to holocaust artefacts be they camps or shoddy daubings by fuhrers can never be a bad thing surely. Personaly I would have thought something as vital and life- affirming as a club would be kind of ironically appropriate to build near a defunct concentration camp. The camp is part of history and history is not a static thing.

Hm…the first thing that came to mind would be to burn it. But then I wondered…did you mean a painting OF Hitler, a painting BY Hitler, or one that he just happened to own (and may have stolen from the Jews)? The first two I’d burn (I wouldn’t want to spread the evil by selling it, lol), but the last I might try to find either the original owner or someone else who was interested.

I wouldn’t hang it up so much as just sort of have it as a random conversation piece. “Well… I do have a painting of/by Adolf Hitler…”

I’ve seen his paintings. I would hang it up for multiple reasons. Firstly, it’s an amazing article of history… and to hide it would be a shame. I mean, really, it would belong in a museum… one that does not praise Hitler, of course, but a museum none the less. But that’s not the question. I’d also put it up because of what time in his life he painted them. If I recall correctly, it was before he went to prison and wrote Mein Kampf(y chair). Considering the amount of charity he received from Jewish people around that time of his life, I don’t think he was a festering hate pot at that time. Sure, he probably had some hate in him, but I wonder if he might have been able to change still at that point. That makes it interesting… I mean, if he had become a really popular artist, there would be no Godwin’s Law. If it was a painting from like… ’41… yes, I’d do just as you suggested and sell it off. But a painting from when he painted… that is truly a fascinating concept on the human condition and the choices we make… and the fates we seem to have.

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