Sarah Crompton sees the trend for allowing photography in galleries as the surest path to depriving art of all purpose and meaning.
Oh, how the heart sinks. The National Gallery, after years of principled opposition, has quietly announced that it is allowing its visitors to photograph and film the paintings on its walls.
It joins Tate, the Louvre, the Metropolitan and most museums around the world in allowing photographs but outlawing flash. Only a handful of institutions, including the Uffizi and the Prado, still keep cameras out.
And thus another sanctuary is breached. Only a few decades ago, people used to laugh at the way Japanese tourists, in particular, felt the need to photograph everything without looking at it. Their technology was so advanced that they were anxious to put their shiny new Nikons and their Fujifilm to good use, lining up on Westminster Bridge to take a shot with Big Ben as a backdrop.
Now the ubiquity of camera phones means you don’t even need to invest in a fancy lens… Read more in the Telegraph
Oh, how the heart sinks. The National Gallery, after years of principled opposition, has quietly announced that it is allowing its visitors to photograph and film the paintings on its walls.
It joins Tate, the Louvre, the Metropolitan and most museums around the world in allowing photographs but outlawing flash. Only a handful of institutions, including the Uffizi and the Prado, still keep cameras out.
And thus another sanctuary is breached. Only a few decades ago, people used to laugh at the way Japanese tourists, in particular, felt the need to photograph everything without looking at it. Their technology was so advanced that they were anxious to put their shiny new Nikons and their Fujifilm to good use, lining up on Westminster Bridge to take a shot with Big Ben as a backdrop.
Now the ubiquity of camera phones means you don’t even need to invest in a fancy lens… Read more in the Telegraph