A long time ago, even before we became embroiled in what we now know as the Second World War, a little chap was born in the Royal County (as he now likes to call it, and probably always has, now I come to think about it). Precisely two months after he was born, war was declared. I ain’t no historian, but I do know that particular date, what with it having been mentioned annually for the past Gawd knows how many years, at this time of the year. I suppose it’s a rather macabre kind of memory, and I’d rather he’d have been born two months before the declaration of Eternal World Peace, or the establishment of the Free Chocolate for All Society. Surely, by now there is one of those, right?
Back to the once-little chap from Berkshire. Last year, as he walked in to the kitchen to be greeted by yours truly and our two sprogs. Happy Birthday Dad/Grandad! “Urgh! Thanks. I never thought I’d make it.” To be fair, he’d told me (quite seriously) some ten years previously that anything beyond the fabled three-score-and-ten was “a bonus”, so the eternal pessimist must now be feeling rather smug to have blagged another 16% and counting in this life. I just wish we could have been there this year, but you know how it is?
Now, because English is such a brilliantly awkward language (see previous post), my assertion that I ain’t no historian is technically correct. Double negative. I have degrees in history, or at least the History of Art. I only mention this because something caught my eye this morning, and it got me thinking. Here’s the sequence: Algeria ‘trending’ on Twitter; curious as to why, I click; among other things, I read this:
“just found out that it’s actually a 16-year-old Algerian girl who influenced BOTH Picasso and Matisse. and. No one gives a rat’s ass about her work??? people didn’t even bother to remember her name…unlike P*casso [sic] & Matisse who both became legends..”
I’m curious; the artist is Baya Mahieddine; I’m not familiar with the name; I look her up; born 1931, first exhibition in 1947; I’m sure Picasso and Matisse were pretty well established by then; I wonder, for the umpteenth time, about the danger of stuff being presented through social media. Here, the tone of the tweet implies that this ‘girl’ was rather significant in the lives and careers of the two Masters, but she has been ignored, what with being female and Algerian and all that. A few minutes of research would allow anyone to establish that Matisse died in 1954 and Picasso in 1973, yet the implication is that they “became legends” after their having encountered young Baya. Any influence could hardly have been major. The point is, the poorly-informed and hard/lazy of thinking brigade could easily have been persuaded that this is yet another example of history unjustly editing out an individual, and this is perhaps a few steps away from another statue toppling episode.
This then reminded me that I had been chatting with a local fellow cyclist the other day. I think we agreed that it might be a good idea if citizens were required to pass a test of some sort before being allowed to vote (or to have children – he is a teacher, so I’ll accept his wider experience on this), and I know that it sounds like a rather hideous proposition, until you sit down and accept that the poorly-informed hard/lazy of thinking brigade (that’s about as polite as I can be) have elected some rather hideous leaders in recent years, and some of those more recent than others.
That War may never have been declared.
2020 - A Year of Perfect Vision 