# Most despised visual artist. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390 "2006-03-22T03:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/1 "2006-03-22T03:23:37Z")
Cafe Society time. I was just flipping through an art history survey text and realized that while we’ve had some ‘underrated artists’ and ‘favorite artists’ threads, aside from the biweekly abstract-expressionism-bash-a-thon we haven’t had enough “specific artists I despise” threads. I’ll start: 1. William Holman Hunt: [“The Awakening”](http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/hunt/p-hunt2.htm) [The Hireling Shepherd](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:William_Holman_Hunt_001.jpg) etc. Tedious hard-edge linear style, harsh uniformly saturated colors in this sick-hangover-in-the-Safeway-flourescents way. And so damn condescending and moralizing and earnest in the nastiest more puritanical and class-baiting way. This might be the only thinkgI agree with Ruskin about. I despise Holman Hunt. 2. Actually, I feel much better now. Perhaps more later. I can’t think of anyone I even approach despising as much as Holman Hunt. Even Ford Madox Brown, Giorgio Vasari, or Jacques Louis David. I think I’ve expended my irritation for the moment. You? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/2 "2006-03-22T03:32:57Z")
My God, that first one has to be one of the more vaguely disturbing paintings I’ve ever seen. Is she bringing him off by rubbing her bottom over his waist? And the poor girls ass! It’s so huge and distended! ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/3 "2006-03-22T04:07:32Z")
I like them…they are very tender and voyeuristic. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/4 "2006-03-22T05:21:05Z")
If comic book artists count, Rob Liefield definitely deserves a mention. I’m sure he’s a nice, decent, honest guy, but good God, that man can. Not. Draw. At _all_. :smack: Back to visual artists: Vincent Van Gogh was a genius, but I don’t think he got along very well with a lot of people… ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/5 "2006-03-22T06:38:37Z")
Judging from the Pit threads, I’d say Thomas Kinkade should win hands down. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/6 "2006-03-22T06:46:18Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Judging from the Pit threads, I’d say Thomas Kinkade should win hands down. I think the OP specifically requested _artists_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Faceless\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@The\_Faceless\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Faceless_King)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/7 "2006-03-22T06:55:22Z")
I have friends who claim that the only good thing about 9-11 was the fact that there were a couple of Jackson Pollock paintings in the World Trade center when it went down. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/8 "2006-03-22T13:04:37Z")
Obvious choices: 1. The gimme of Thomas Kinkade, who in his quest to make money, prostituted Art and himself. Good for him for making money, but he represents everything that is wrong about commercialization. 2. Leroy Nieman - an earlier version of Kinkade - developed his style, got associated with Playboy and other publications, but the fine line between having a style and being a hack got corrupted by him years ago. 3. Carolyn Keane - those big-eyed kids that just creep you out and have come to represent kitschy kitsch in the extreme. There are plenty of others, but those are a good place to start. One could argue on the Fine Arts side of things for artists like Jeff Koons - he of the basketball floating in water in a plexiglass cube that sold for hundreds of thousands of $$ - or Damien Hirst - he of the halved shark/cow/whatever floating in formaldehyde - simply because of the debates they inspire, but neither is nearly as remotely insipid, banal and self-promotionally whoring as the ones I mentioned… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/9 "2006-03-22T13:06:26Z")
> [@](#): > > My God, that first one has to be one of the more vaguely disturbing paintings I’ve ever seen. Is she bringing him off by rubbing her bottom over his waist? > > And the poor girls ass! It’s so huge and distended! I have to agree – what _is_ supposed to be going on in that painting? If I hadn’t seen the Victorianm-era dates I’d swear it was soft porn. The distraction and far-away look in that girl’s eyes (not to mention the title) suggest that she’s having Her First Orgasm. are they having surreptious sex through slits in their clothes? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/10 "2006-03-22T13:12:39Z")
Nowadays she would have a webcam. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/11 "2006-03-22T13:16:17Z")
[Jeff Koons](http://www.csulb.edu/~karenk/20thcwebsite/439final/ah439fin-Full.00015.html) is the most despised contemporary artist I can think of. (This link is to “Michael Jackson and Bubbles,” and not to anything of him having sex with Ciccolina, by the way, in case you’re a work.) Maybe Mark Kostabi is a distant second. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/12 "2006-03-22T13:26:11Z")
Okay, I can’t actually _defend_ Holman Hunt – but I’ve always had a weird fondness for his [Scapegoat](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/hunt/hunt1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/hunt/p-hunt1.htm&h=466&w=800&sz=133&tbnid=gG7elTKx78CAiM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=142&hl=en&ei=uU8hRIGVGaKWJO7zzM8K&sig2=S3BCZsYv-jsku4EOOvObZg&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dholman%2Bhunt%2Bscapegoat%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/13 "2006-03-22T13:33:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Okay, I can’t actually defend Holman Hunt – but I’ve always had a weird fondness for his Scapegoat. Is that the Claw of a Giant Monster Crab in the background reaching out to grab and devour the Goat? Or is it just me? Hunt could be the subject of much MST3K-style pittings of paintings. This could be a fertile source of entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/14 "2006-03-22T13:54:12Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Okay, I can’t actually _defend_ Holman Hunt – but I’ve always had a weird fondness for his [Scapegoat](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/hunt/hunt1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/hunt/p-hunt1.htm&h=466&w=800&sz=133&tbnid=gG7elTKx78CAiM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=142&hl=en&ei=uU8hRIGVGaKWJO7zzM8K&sig2=S3BCZsYv-jsku4EOOvObZg&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dholman%2Bhunt%2Bscapegoat%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D). I need one for my wall! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/15 "2006-03-22T14:00:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I have to agree – what _is_ supposed to be going on in that painting? If I hadn’t seen the Victorianm-era dates I’d swear it was soft porn. The distraction and far-away look in that girl’s eyes (not to mention the title) suggest that she’s having Her First Orgasm. are they having surreptious sex through slits in their clothes? The title of the painting is actually “The Awakening Conscience”. [Here’s](http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/whh/replete/conscience.html) an interpretation of it. The painting is still crap, of course. I’ll agree with Koons or Hirst as most despised. Thomas Kinkade is no more an artist than [C.M. Coolidge](http://gaming.unlv.edu/gallery/a_friend_in_need.htm) is. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/16 "2006-03-22T15:23:58Z")
I’ve always had an irrational hatred for Renoir. _Le peintre de la lumière_, I would call him, a kind of pre-Kinkaid. I’m not that wild about Utrillo, either. You’re right about Holman – he’s pretty awful. He’s like an incompetent Alma-Tadema, which is about as faint as you can get, praisewise. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/17 "2006-03-22T15:25:41Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > I’ve always had an irrational hatred for Renoir. _Le peintre de la lumière_, I would call him, a kind of pre-Kinkaid. Thank you. I don’t hate Renoir, but I have never liked him – all that rosy freakin’ flesh. ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/18 "2006-03-22T15:59:14Z")
I may be the only one (okay, my girlfriend, a profesional artist, hates him as well), but I figure that I hate Andy Warhol enough for several people. ``` I once had to tour the Warhol museum in Pittsburgh, my impression of a day at this house of horrors: "Look, there's a boring picture, look there it is again, look the entire fracking floor is the same picture repeated over and over again with slight variations". Move down one floor, repeat. By the end of the tour I was willing to cut my own wrists witn a nail clipper just because of the fact that it would been more amusing than the museum ``` ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/19 "2006-03-22T16:48:50Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > I’ve always had an irrational hatred for Renoir. _Le peintre de la lumière_, I would call him, a kind of pre-Kinkaid. +2 - I have gotten into more trouble with my stock phrase “Renoir sucks” than I care to remember. However, I still think of him as a Hallmark card artist who got lucky in both the time period in which he arrived at his style and the other artists he associated with… ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390/20 "2006-03-22T18:11:02Z")
I personally despise everything I’ve ever seen by Basquiat. It isn’t just that I can’t stand to look at his stuff, it’s that I want to rip it off the wall, tear it up, and torch it, so that the world will be rid of the crap. I don’t much mind Degas’s art, although it’s kind of boring, but the guy was a first-class asshole. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-despised-visual-artist/349390.md?page=2)