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Obama's Plans For White House Art
Since the culture wars of the 1980s, moderate Democrats have kept their distance from art (especially contemporary art), while Republicans and the religious right have continued to promote the popular misconception that art is nothing but a manifestation of liberal godlessness—easily ignored, and profitably attacked when necessary.
George W. Bush surprised no one when his taste in paintings ran to mid-brow Western scenes of the cowboy sunset school, and no one expected him to stand up for the arts.
That dynamic was evident again last week, when Senate Democrats including Diane Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and Russ Feingoldsupported an amendment introduced by Republican Tom Coburn that prohibited any “museum, theater [or] art center” from receiving funds in the economic-stimulus package. The argument that these would be “non-stimulative” expenditures assumes that “the carpenter who pounds nails framing a set for an opera company is a less-real carpenter than one who pounds nails framing a house," William Ivey, who was the leader of President Obama's transition team on arts-related spending, told the Boston Globe.
The house version of the stimulus package contains a meager $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, which will no doubt become a point of contention in reconciling the House and Senate bills.
In 1998, it was a big deal when Bill and Hillary Clinton not only attended the National Gallery preview of a great Mark Rothko retrospective but even requested a few minutes to walk the galleries alone—explaining that a trip to see Rothkos at Yale was their first date. Hillary also bucked the rule that art in the White House’s permanent collection must be by an artist who has been deceased at least 20 years when she borrowed and hung a Willem de Kooning abstract during the artist’s lifetime.
But Clinton’s support for the arts was largely ceremonial. He did not reverse the Reagan-Bush cuts to the NEA or publicly condemn the fear-mongering and distrust of the visual-art community that had begun during Lynne Cheney’s tenure as head of the National Endowment of the Humanities. Needless to say George W. Bush surprised no one when his taste in paintings ran to mid-brow Western scenes of the cowboy sunset school, and no one expected him to stand up for the arts.
Now the arts community hopes that the private choices the Obamas make for their quarters presage a broader art initiative in the White House.
“I am waiting for the return of a truly refined cosmopolitan sensibility in the White House,” says cultural historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., chairman of Harvard’s Department of Afro-American Studies.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
Justice Clinton?
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
connie47
Kingbarry: The only thing that makes your posts tolerable is my belief in free speech. You are exactly what is wrong in America today.
theblender
frankly, I hope Ms. Obama's and the President's taste in art far exceeds this sampling... I don't disparage the good work of these artists... but I wouldn't choose any of it to live with. and I adore portraiture! with such a world of color and the expression of life that would seem a visual remedy to such stressful times, why would one choose 'drab'? or dark? for daily inspiration?
monica21
a world of color includes the "dark" and "dreary". color is represented by life in all of it's reality, not specific to imagery and those soft feel good pastels of a staged presentation. the "dark and dreary" can be inspiration to look beyond the image in front of you and address the substance behind the work, "dark and dreary" as you say, is in all of us. artists or not. "dark and dreary" is the life of many people, if it doesn;t inspire growth, change or progress, then i don't know what does.
finderj
The nature of art is to involve the viewer in an ultimately positive experience outside the bounds of his/her 'normal' life. Much of contemporary art seems to be based on the soundbite theory - say something, say anything, only make it quick and short. That said, there is a lot of contemporary work out there that is extraordinary. Appreciating art is not limited to people with Ivy-league educations. If the Obamas manage to awaken more so-called average people to the fact tht there is a whole world of art out there to be seen, to be heard, to be experienced with the mind, the soul and the senses, more power to them. I just hope they don't fall into the fallacy of thinking tht only one type of art is truly 'art'.
Bulldoglover100
Art is as much a part of our history and culture as baseball and milk. It employs people that live in this country and therefore should be as protected by the stimulus as any other endeavor ...BUT and this is a big one....I think that "some" expressions of "Art" have been so stomach turning in the past...body parts and body waste being paid for by our government, that people finally said enough. If someone wants to "do their business on a mat" and call it art? Fine but government funds should not be used to pay for it and in the past? It has been. I think the bigger problem is the art community failure to police theirself that has caused the feeling that government should not be supportive.
Offensive? may be art to some but the majority rules the day and that is a fact the art community has yet to understand.
camfield
More power to the Obamas for supporting contemporary artists. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the public shouldn't really have much to say about what is displayed in the presidential family's private residence area. Their taste in art is in no way connected a nationwide vote, as this will not be displayed for the public's benefit. But I imagine FOX news will be weighing in on this when it runs out of other convenient nits to pick in some snide, holier-than-thou, ultra-conservative way.
MarineLtCol
Smart move. Just what he needs now. Berating corporate executives for their lavish lifestyles at taxpayer expense, lamenting the doom and gloom of future economic prospects, trying to tell everybody to tighten their belt and get ready for the sacrifice. Meanwhile, let me go ahead and start worrying about what multi-million dollar pieces of art I want in my residence. Great. True leadership by example.
CultureVulture
This is a great and refreshing concept for what we all hope will be a great and refreshing new administration.
HOWEVER, Mr. Ross' suggestions, while made in the spirit of inclusion, end up trying to satisfy a constituency that I feel backfires. Of course great American women contemporary artists should be included (and he omits an OBVIOUS selection in Kara Walker) but not to the exclusion of any other challenging contemporary American artist - be they male, black, white, Latin etcetera. And to the comment that the Obamas would be choosing million-dollar artworks while the the country is in fiscal crisis?? - well, in all likelihood any of the works chosen for the private areas of the White House would be loans, not purchases. This is a PR win-win for the Obama family and the administration - our contemporary American artists speak to (and from) the variant riches of our shared visual and experienced culture, and even posturing this discussion is a bold move in the right direction at no offense to the public.
finderj
Well, they aren't buying the million-dollar art, they are only borrowing it. So I have no beef there. I'd borrow million dollar art too, if I could. And trade it out, regularly, so I could enjoy lots of it.
Leaders have to have down-time, or they are no good to themselves or anyone else. If Mr. Obama is refreshed by spending a little contemplation with a piece of art, good. Cheaper than flying to Texas and back.
Besides, what does this really matter in the scope of things? Mr. Obama is the president of the United States. He needs a safe, comfortable place to just go drop his responsibilities, insofar as that is possible, for a bit every day. Museums and galleries want to loan him expensive art, well, it couldn't be in a much safer place, and it won't make a penny's worth of difference in the security already in place, so it costs nothing to give the man a little peace so he can do his job better.
Leadership is an enormous responsibility, but there are a few perks too.
GVidal
"some" may call it art....I call it brain farts
GVidal
not in my house....
daross140
First, please remember this is for the private rooms of the White House, not the public rooms. I agree with the idea that Kara Walker should be in my little list, along with several dozen more artists. This was only a small sample of works that might be included as loans to the Obama family. My longer list would run to many pages, but besides Walker would also include younger artists like Taube Auerbach, Carrie Mae Weems, Alexis Smith, Martha Rosler, Amanda Ross-Ho, Mary Heilman, Barbara Kruger, Judith Linhares, Shinique Smith, Leslie Hewitt, Renee Green, Shazia Sikander, and many others. This was meant to be an illustration, not a definitive list, but lists are fun, and I invite others to add others to mine. But at the end of the day, the selection of loans to request (from museums -- not from individuals or commercial entities) will be up to the First Family.
AlNavarro
It would be nice to have some photography up in that joint. Maybe some Paul Strand or Alfred Stieglitz? Or maybe some Chuck Close portraits? I'm not familiar with the current WH collection.
What would be really great would be some non-Barack Shepard Fairey pieces.
Thank you.
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