Taking Hammer to Gill
'Some will always believe that whatever is fashioned by evil hands must itself be evil,' writes Howard Jacobson, as he discusses the necessity to separate art from the artist.
Howard Jacobson deplores the recent vandalising of Eric Gill's sculpture at BBC Broadcasting House as a failure to understand the meaning of art.
'Art, we go on protesting, is not the artist, but some will always believe that whatever is fashioned by evil hands must itself be evil,' he writes.
'If art and the artist were not distinct, the word art itself would have no meaning. For it denotes manufacture and artifice... not simple equation or reflection.'
Producer: Sheila Cook
Sound Engineer: Peter Bosher
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross
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- Fri 26 May 202320:50BBC Radio 4
- Sun 28 May 202308:48BBC Radio 4
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A Point of View
A weekly reflection on a topical issue.

