“Crucified woman” gets a place in Basel museum after 64 years
Published: Friday, Jun 14th 2024, 09:50
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The painting and its unveiling in front of the Basel Historical Museum caused a huge scandal 64 years ago. Now the museum has accepted Kurt Fahrner's painting of the naked crucified woman, which had been locked away for many years, as a gift from its sponsoring association.
It was April 29, 1959, when Basel artist Kurt Fahrner (1932-1977) unveiled his "Picture of a Crucified Woman of Our Time" on Basel's Barfüsserplatz at 11 p.m., accompanied by a small jazz combo. The painting showed what the title said: a naked woman tied to a cross.
It was an extremely daring action that turned into a major scandal. Police officers appeared, arrested the artists and confiscated the picture. Fahrner and the musician Herbert Schrag were sentenced by the criminal court to ten days in prison each for "indecent publication" and "dishonoring an object of religious veneration".
Image released after 30 years
In the subsequent appeal proceedings, the Basel Court of Appeal showed a little more sense for the freedom of art and reduced the penalty for mischief to a fine of 30 francs. The public prosecutor's office was not prepared to accept this. They took the case to the Federal Supreme Court. There the whole thing finally ended with a fine of 100 francs.
So while the artist himself got away more or less scot-free, the painting remained locked away for over twenty years. Fahrner's repeated efforts to get his painting released were to no avail. The "Crucified Woman" was not released until 1980. The artist, who died of a heart attack in 1977 at the age of 45, did not live to see this moment.
An illustrated chapter in Basel's history
In 1981, the Kunstmuseum Basel showed the Crucified Woman in an exhibition to mark the release of the work. However, the museum, which is usually well-disposed towards local artists, did not want to include the painting in its collection. Apart from that, the painting has only rarely been seen to this day.
Now it has found a new home as an illustrated and illustrious chapter in Basel's history. The Verein für das Historische Museum Basel bought the painting for 40,000 francs and presented it to the museum as a gift.
"This donation has given us great pleasure," the president of the association, Christiane Faesch, told the Keystone-SDA news agency. However, it is not yet on display. It first has to be inventoried and examined by a restorer, the museum said on request.
©Keystone/SDA
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