LACMA Docent

The L.A. County Museum of Art should rethink its firing of docent Stephanie Riseley for her statements to students regarding Ed Kienholz’s sculpture, “Back Seat Dodge ‘38” (May 19).

As a fifth-grade teacher, I have taken classes on this tour and remember Kienholz’s work quite well. It is obvious to anyone what it represents, and Riseley’s explanation was in no way inappropriate. Her statement that you should “think before you act” regarding your first sexual experience was in keeping with the message we are trying to send to students. If the museum is not prepared to explain an artwork’s meaning to certain groups, then that work should be removed from the tour.

LYNN SWANSON

Rancho Cucamonga

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I’m stunned! A docent is fired for presenting an approved, lucid, and intelligent description of a very well-known work. This is not right. I support Riseley’s demands for her job back and a full apology.

RICHARD SPEAR

Sunland

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If a picture says a thousand words, then how many words must have gone through the minds of the fifth-grade Visalia girls after seeing “Back Seat Dodge ‘38”? The girls did not need the verbal assistance of Riseley. Instead of appealing her firing, she should be personally apologizing to the parents of each of the students she thought she was educating. As for the parents who stood by listening to the obviously age-inappropriate drivel delivered by Riseley, maybe they were just too shocked by what was happening to take immediate action.

I was in junior high school and studying civics when the controversy over the Kienholz piece was front-page material, and at that time was interested in knowing why there was such a controversy over showing the piece at a public gallery, particularly a place where my parents took me to view art of historical significance.

Years later when I finally saw the Kienholz piece in person, I found it provocative more than anything else, and thought that without the controversy and publicity, the piece would have ended up in some junkyard. At that time, obviously older and somewhat wiser, I had a better understanding of sex and sexuality, which is how and why I thought that the piece made sex cheap, if not disgusting, rather than rich and beautiful.

HOWARD M. FIELDS

Hidden Hills

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When “Back Seat Dodge ‘38” was shown at LACMA in 1966, viewers were required to show ID with proof of age.

MERLE SCHIPPER

Los Angeles