A PAINTING by controversial war artist Peter Howson depicting an
apparent rape scene in Bosnia has been bought by Aberdeen Art Gallery,
and went on show to the public yesterday.
However, Dr Lindsay Errington, Keeper of Fine Art, does not expect the
same controversy to surround Howson's Serb and Muslim as did his
painting, Croatian and Muslim, which was rejected by the Imperial War
Museum.
The museum, which commissioned the Glasgow Art School graduate to go
to Bosnia, decided the explicit rape scene was too brutal for its
permanent collection. It was later bought by singer David Bowie.
The painting which Aberdeen Art Gallery has purchased cost #16,200
with the aid of a 40% grant. ''I think we got a masterpiece very
cheap,'' said Dr Errington.
The purchase was approved by Aberdeen district councillors.
She said Croatian and Muslim was a very explicit rape ''and it was in
my mind that sort of picture was not something I could acquire for
Aberdeen and which I could hang in a place where people might be
bringing their children''.
Shw went on: ''One had to find a picture that was truthful but wasn't
going to cause upset to people who come in with young children.
''It is a piece of living history. It is not yet a rape but a struggle
between a man and a woman.
''Their interlocked struggle has become a symbol of the Bosnian
tragedy as a whole and of the violence perpetrated by one race upon
another.''
The painting did not shock 71-year-old grandmother Dorothy Paterson,
of Aberdeen, who was one of the first to see it. A regular visitor,
sometimes with her grandchildren, she said: ''Nothing much shocks me
nowadays. It is a shocking world we live in.''
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