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White Nationalist Charles Krafft's Views Holocaust As New Religion

THE STRANGER
By Jen Craves
"Hitler Idaho" was purchased by a Jewish collector,
now dead, who later gave it to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
WASHINGTON---The question is hard to get your head around: If Charles Krafft is a Holocaust denier, what does that say about his revered artwork? How should collectors and curators—or anyone who sees his work— reassess his art in light of what he's been saying lately? Krafft, an elder of Seattle art, is a provocateur. He makes ceramics out of human cremains, perfume bottles with swastika stoppers, wedding cakes frosted with Third Reich insignias. In 2003, Krafft made a ceramic teapot in the shape of a bust of Hitler, with eerie holes for eyes. A Jewish collector named Sandy Besser, now dead, bought the Hitler teapot and added it to his overtly politically themed collection, which he later donated to FAMSF, where it was exhibited in 2007. What does it mean that when Krafft made this portrait of a demonized Hitler, he was actually beginning to spread the word that the demonization of Hitler has been greatly exaggerated? Another question: Will the museum get rid of the Krafft? [link]

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Ernest Disney-Britton said…
What should it mean for collectors--including museum curators and not just Jews that "when Krafft made this portrait of a demonized Hitler, he was actually beginning to spread the word that the demonization of Hitler has been greatly exaggerated?" What matters most, the perspectives brought by artworks, or the artists intent? Timothy Burgard, who is in charge of American art for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) "said that if Besser—the original collector of the Hitler teapot—had thought the sculpture rehabilitated Hitler's regime, he'd probably have smashed it." Does the intention of the artist mean more than the meaning which you as a collector or a society bring to it?
Sat Feb 16, 10:25:00 AM EST
CrystLark said…
Ive burned paintings and journels/writings because afterwards i would look them and think people would never understand this and take it the wrong way. So yea i personally care more those receiving it and how it would affect them, the culture, ect....
Thu Feb 21, 06:48:00 AM EST
Ernest Disney-Britton said…
So, I hear you saying that what the audience hears is more important than what the artist intended--right? Or in other words, the intention of this artist to promote hate is far less important than the Jewish collector's perception because he saw the piece as a statement against hate?
Sat Mar 02, 04:13:00 PM EST
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