Newspaper of Notices/EFE.| The Board of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of La Laguna has expressed its rejection of the project to open a museum dedicated to the sculptor Auguste Rodin in Santa Cruz de Tenerife since it understands that it “seriously harms the culture” of the capital and “does not benefit” Tenerife society.
The Board of the Faculty of Fine Arts calls on the city council to stop the project “and study the best way to allocate its funds to the promotion of culture produced in and from Tenerife”.
In a statement, this academic center indicates that it has not been consulted at any time about the advisability or not of opening a Rodin Museum in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a project that has generated alarm among the cultural sector of the Canary Islands.
The note indicates that among the procedures undertaken for the opening of the Rodin Museum, the City Council requested an appraisal report from the Service of Analysis and Documentation of Works of Art (SADOA) of the University of La Laguna, which is a scientific-technical service of research support (SEGAI) that offers its services both to researchers from the University of La Laguna and to any person or public or private entity that requests it.
The appraisal issued is, therefore, a scientific-technical report based on market prices, which in no way implies an endorsement, legitimacy or explicit or implicit support from the University of La Laguna, much less from the Faculty of Fine Arts. Arts, to the Rodin Museum project, adds the note.
In the note, the Faculty of Fine Arts expresses its surprise and deep concern about the initiative to open in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with public funds, a museum dedicated to Auguste Rodin, a 19th-century French sculptor who has no connection with Tenerife, not with the Canary Islands, not even with Spain.
He adds that as it has been learned, the museum project consists of acquiring a collection of Rodin’s sculptures that, although they are labeled as “original” works, are going to be made to order in the coming months, more than a century after the death of the artist, which situates the museum project as a commercial transaction with the institution that provided these sculptures.
Had it been consulted, the Faculty of Fine Arts would have reported that, regardless of whether the pieces purchased match market prices, their value as sculptural heritage and their cultural interest are manifestly low.
The note specifies that although the Faculty of Fine Arts is not qualified to give an opinion on the economic viability of a business project, it is qualified to affirm that “a museum dedicated to a nineteenth-century artist, which will not house unique pieces but serial sculptures, manufactured in a posthumous and which can be seen in different parts of the world, including Paris, is completely devoid of artistic interest and, therefore, its attractiveness to bring cultural tourism to Tenerife is more than questionable”.
“We consider that a project whose only interest is its eventual economic viability has an eminently business nature and should be undertaken as a private initiative,” the note added.
In addition, he reproaches that one’s own cultural contributions are not valued and understands that “the firm commitment” that is being made by a foreign author significantly devalues ”the image that we offer of our own culture.”
In this sense, the Faculty of Fine Arts wishes to express its total solidarity and support for the cultural sector of Tenerife, its creators and its cultural agents, who see with great concern how “the precious economic resources that art and culture need and demand from a commercial operation”.
The Faculty of Fine Arts considers that this museum project seriously harms the culture of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and does not in any way benefit society in Santa Cruz or Tenerife as a whole, benefiting only the Rodin Museum in Paris, which will obtain a substantial income from the manufacture and sale of the sculptures.
The note calls on the City Council “to reconsider, paralyze this project and study the best way to allocate its funds to the promotion of culture produced in and from Tenerife.”
Response from the City of Santa Cruz
From the Santa Cruz City Council they regret “the position made public today by the Faculty of Fine Arts, and we invite its managers and faculty to learn about the project to establish a Rodin Museum in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as the recovery process from other cultural spaces in the capital, such as the Masonic temple, the Carta palace, the building that houses the academies, in Irineo square, etc. To this end, we have already offered to the Dean of the Faculty to organize a meeting in which to present the project and its reasons, and resolve any questions that may arise during this process”.
