Nicholas Nixon in trouble

[Richard Man]

For a larger context, look at people like Winnie Mandela. South Africans mourned their "Mother of Nation" while acknowledging that she was extremely flawed in participation of torture and murder episodes. No one swept them under the rugs and say "oh the times were different then". No, it was wrong then, as it is wrong now. Nevertheless, they love her for the other things she did.

I appreciate N Nixon as a photographer. Again, there is no need to defend the indefensible.

 

[removed account4]

"People in Power", that should be relativated. When a student is of age he can decide where to go and what to do. He can leave a situation he does not feel comfortable with.
(Yes, there are restrictions on this argument, as grants, or regulated studies where you are sent to a certain place without choice.)

there is currently an investigation to see if any of this stuff acutally happened, if it did that's not good
and if it did happen, maybe if the students didnt' want to look at his junk or participate in the group photograph eachother's junk or it might have been a required project
that if they "opt out" they don't get a grade so it was not an option to not participate if they didn't feel comfortable.
sometimes discomfort makes great art ...
and hearing some 70 year old teacher fantasize about one of his students to other students is kind of creepy.
sorry .. thats like dating the mother to get to the teenage daugher creepy, bad on TV with a uncomfortable laughtrack
could all just be made up stuff, humans are known to make stuff up to devistate people
look what happened to the mcmartins ... >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

To pick a more extreme example, what about Terry Richardson? There's a case where I don't think you can possibly separate the artist from his work, and the artist himself devalues the work. Nicholas Nixon, from the articles I've read, is in his personal life a creepy perv, but his work is not about that, at least the work of his I'm aware of. I don't think his work should be purged, or blacklisted. I do suspect that once the allegations against him have been adjudicated, they will become a permanent part of his biography, so whenever anyone looks at "The Brown Sisters", they'll read "1970-2010, photographer: Nicholas Nixon, born 1940, a photography professor at MassArt where he taught for 20+ years until he resigned as a result of multiple incidents of sexual misconduct toward students spanning much of his teaching career" or something to that effect. I do think that there are very few instances where artists and their work should be confined to the dustbin/storage room. Nazi artists who created works for the Hitler regime are one of the few examples. And history has done that on its own fairly well - who remembers the names of or the works by Nazi artists unless you're a WW II history buff? Outside of Leni Riefenstahl. But she's proof that a body of work can be so exceptional that it overcomes the taint of her political associations. But even now, when people talk about her, it's "Leni Riefenstahl, the Nazi cinematographer". The taint doesn't go away, ever, but the work stands. DW Griffith is another - just as I have seen excerpts from Triumph of the Will, and can understand and appreciate what it accomplished as a piece of cinema, I've watched a decent chunk of Birth of a Nation, and I understand how revolutionary it was as a piece of cinema - if you are a film student, you absolutely should watch both of those films to grasp their use of camera and editing techniques. But the politics of both (Naziism, racism) are so abhorrent that I have not been able to stomach watching them through to completion, nor will I ever try to.

 

[jtk]

George Washington, "father of our country" (US) was a barbaric military leader in French/Indian war.

Various Popes...say no more.

Your dentist and your doctor openly market drugs.

 

[jtk]

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/new...n-accused-of-sexual-harassment-at-his-request
There seems to be a decreasing number of heroes in the photography profession.

Number of heroes in "photo profession" is always and inherently increasing. Photrio seems almost totally unaware of new heroes as they emerge specifically because of the film hangup and adulation for hobbiests.

In particular, Photrio seems almost totally unaware of commercial photographers, people who actually make livings with photography...those heroes don't bother to work with academic or gallery-oriented frame of mind.

Those that do, do. Those that can't teach (or review).

 

[naeroscatu]

George Washington, "father of our country" (US) was a barbaric military leader in French/Indian war.

Various Popes...say no more.

Your dentist and your doctor openly market drugs.

Good point. Yeah, why don't they get erased from history. Are we not playing with double standards here

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Number of heroes in "photo profession" is always and inherently increasing. Photrio seems almost totally unaware of new heroes as they emerge specifically because of the film hangup and adulation for hobbiests.

In particular, Photrio seems almost totally unaware of commercial photographers, people who actually make livings with photography...those heroes don't bother to work with academic or gallery-oriented frame of mind.

Those that do, do. Those that can't teach (or review).

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym. Those who can't teach gym, verbally masturbate on internet forums about those who have opinions and express them articulately in ways they disagree with and cannot intelligently refute.

 

[jtk]

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym. Those who can't teach gym, verbally masturbate on internet forums about those who have opinions and express them articulately in ways they disagree with and cannot intelligently refute.

Flying...Just out of curiosity, what are you trying to say? Do you agree that Nixon's problem supports the OT: "...a decreasing number of heroes in the photography profession" ?

I admire Nixon's photography and never considered him a hero or a representative of "the photography profession" (whatever that is) .

 

[CMoore]

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym. Those who can't teach gym, verbally masturbate on internet forums about those who have opinions and express them articulately in ways they disagree with and cannot intelligently refute.

...... you are saying you could not teach gym.?

 

[removed account4]

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/new...n-accused-of-sexual-harassment-at-his-request
There seems to be a decreasing number of heroes in the photography profession.

they say no one really knows anybody to begin with. people have different facades / masks they where.
plenty of ministers / people of the cloth who have troubles behind closed doors,
and the public saw them / see them as something different ..
look at jeffry dahmmer he was the nicest guy, his neighbors thought he was great ...
plenty of instances like that . lots of people have dark passengers, some are able to keep them
riding shotgun with the seat belt on ( through creative efforts, therapy, medication, self medication &c )
... people say pablo picaso was kind of ... well, jonathan richman says it in the song
... i'd post the link here but, its rated R and this is a rated G forum ...
i don't know enough "current" photographers who would be considered "heroes" to make a statement regarding your specific question ..

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Flying...Just out of curiosity, what are you trying to say? Do you agree that Nixon's problem supports the OT: "...a decreasing number of heroes in the photography profession" ?

I admire Nixon's photography and never considered him a hero or a representative of "the photography profession" (whatever that is) .

I was just being snarky about the "those who can, do" comment. As for Nicholas Nixon... I don't know if he (or anyone) is a "hero" of photography. He's certainly a talented photographer, and a rather obviously tragically flawed human being. I don't know if reconciliation of those two characteristics is possible or necessary. For some artists, I can overlook their feet of clay to enjoy their art. For others, no amount of glaze and patina can overcome the nature of their clay feet and I cannot appreciate their work. I suspect Nixon falls into the former camp - Arno Brecker the Nazi sculptor would fall clearly into the latter.

 

[NJH]

On an international forum many of you wouldn't be aware that Churchill is to this day despised in parts of our country for sending troops in to break up striking miners (Tonypandy riots). Apart from a few short years he is a man with a very chequered history.

Putting aside the stuff about the relationship between a persons output and the person themselves, there definitely seems to be a strong thread of things being allowed to fester and breed over time. Sadly I have seen this myself where unacceptable behaviours have gone unaddressed resulting in those behaviours only getting worse (workplace bullying sadly, I predict this will be the next big outpouring). This stuff has to be nipped in the bud.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

If there is money to be made, the work will live on. That is how Richardson got away with what he did for so long. Of course now he is toxic. I don't know what will happen with Nixon. I personally don't really think his work is all that crazy good. He is a good photographer, but historically good? Not so sure. He has rarely ever been talked about outside of those Brown sisters series. Pretty obscure really.