Germaine Greer: cultural opinions that would go down quite nicely with Hitler

My Christmas holiday was spoilt slightly by the breaking of an illusion; no... it wasn’t the existence or lack of regarding Santa Claus. No, Christmas 2007 was the year where my idolisation of Germaine Greer crashed and burnt spectacularly. Most will know she’s an occasional Guardian columnist, however what you may not know is that she appears to be a ridiculously bigoted blogger, with cultural opinions that would go down quite nicely with Hitler.

On December 17th Greer published a blog entitled Hidden Heritage claiming that the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is tantamount to concealing the culture of Britain.

YSP is an open air sculpture park and art centre located just outside the city of Wakefield, which itself is between Sheffield and Leeds. A visit to this park builds up to an apparent ‘formidably expensive day out’, wait a minute ....the entrance fee is free and parking charges only £4. I’m sure as a resident and culture vulture in London Greer has paid a little more than £4 for a day’s car parking or £10 for a seven mile taxi journey. With a degree of horror, Greer exclaims it costs ‘£112.00’ for a train return from London to Wakefield train stations (of which there are two Kirkgate and Westgate). This declaration has been proven to be wrong in the comments to the blog (and many of her other “facts” have also been disproven), a quick trip to National Rail site shows that booking the cheapest ticket for the next day would be around £46. That’s a saving of £66 in comparison to Dreary Greery train travel! So, if Ms Greer on a whim decided to visit YSP on public transport, the total would add up to £56, say £20 for a posh meal or she could even buy a picnic and eat out surrounding by art in the park (Wakefield does indeed have supermarkets, shops and even a Greggs!). That’s only £76 surely (I’m sure on her wage she could afford it)! Or, she could go mad, drive up the M1 and follow the signs to the YSP, good lord, what a kerfuffle that sounds (please note sarcasm).

Greer’s second whinge was the fact that the majority of sculptures "is as likely to belong to someone else," and your problem Greer? Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth’s pieces are still central pieces of the open air art, and I believe Greer’s argument here has one major flaw. Moore and Hepworth are “born and bred” Yorkshire artists; Hepworth was raised in Wakefield and Moore born in Castleford, only a stone’s throw away from Wakefield. Perhaps, it’s important to show the inspiration behind these artists? Hepworth and Moore lived in this landscape and I believe it should be exhibited in these spaces. Also YSP’s main attraction is James Turrell’s Deer Shelter, where in a listed deer shelter you can lay back and view the sky through a “Skyspace”. An amazing experience for anyone who’s been there and a permanent, purpose built sculpture for the park. But does it matter who, or where art is from as long as we can access them?

Greer’s blog has some interesting points - art and sculpture should be open. The Angel of the North has become a real landmark and I believe has flourished despite original criticism. But surely YSP is an example of how effective open air and easily accessible art can be? Why slag it off? The only reason I can see is because of its location, unfortunately for Greer it’s a little too north of the London Tube. Fortunately for us, it’s close, without entry charge, and Greer free.

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