Open Forum

Dear Friends:

I don't know how many might have seen this but there was/is a fabulous piece in the most recent issue of he New Republic about private funding in (mostly American art) museums.  Some might call it a left-wing perspective on matters but from my perspective it  rings too true too often.  It is extremely well-written. Check out:  "Painting Over the Dirty Truth: The rich fund museums to launder their reputations.  Museums exploit identity politics to distract from the shady money funding them.  In the art world, it's all just business as usual."  By Rhonda Lieberman.

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Steven Miller
Doylestown, PA

Executive Director Retired
Boscobel Restoration, Inc.
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Thanks Steven. Here is the link: https://newrepublic.com/article/154991/rich-art-museum-donors-exploit-identity-politics-launder-reputations-philanthropy.
Joan

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Joan Baldwin
Curator-Special Collections - The Hotchkiss School
Lakeville CT
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-09-2019 09:43 AM
From: Steven Miller
Subject: Museum Funding Article

Dear Friends:

I don't know how many might have seen this but there was/is a fabulous piece in the most recent issue of he New Republic about private funding in (mostly American art) museums.  Some might call it a left-wing perspective on matters but from my perspective it  rings too true too often.  It is extremely well-written. Check out:  "Painting Over the Dirty Truth: The rich fund museums to launder their reputations.  Museums exploit identity politics to distract from the shady money funding them.  In the art world, it's all just business as usual."  By Rhonda Lieberman.

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Steven Miller
Doylestown, PA

Executive Director Retired
Boscobel Restoration, Inc.
------------------------------

The problem with the perspective of the article here is that if we were to do away with every museum, art collection or cultural institution that was funded by people who weren't or aren't perfect, there would no such institutions left except for a few government funded ones, probably dedicated to the glory of the government, as exist in places with totalitarian regimes. The article cites the "robber barons", and we have to acknowledge that much of what we have as major cultural ​institutions and museums came along thanks to them. No one is perfect, not even the great virtue signalers of the left, so really, I don't see why we can't accept the good that can be done with the money given by less then perfect people. Maybe a better solution would be to avoid name branding everything in a donor's name and putting the emphasis on what the museum or collection is actually about, such as naming a new gallery "Gallery of African Art" rather than "Mr. and Mrs. Donor Gallery"
We must also acknowledge that so many of the world's treasured landmarks were built with the money of people with less than perfect reputations, such as the iconic and beautiful St. Basil's and Kremlin in Moscow that were built by Ivan the Terrible.

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Valeria Kondratiev
The Frick Collection
New York NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-09-2019 09:43 AM
From: Steven Miller
Subject: Museum Funding Article

Dear Friends:

I don't know how many might have seen this but there was/is a fabulous piece in the most recent issue of he New Republic about private funding in (mostly American art) museums.  Some might call it a left-wing perspective on matters but from my perspective it  rings too true too often.  It is extremely well-written. Check out:  "Painting Over the Dirty Truth: The rich fund museums to launder their reputations.  Museums exploit identity politics to distract from the shady money funding them.  In the art world, it's all just business as usual."  By Rhonda Lieberman.

------------------------------
Steven Miller
Doylestown, PA

Executive Director Retired
Boscobel Restoration, Inc.
------------------------------

Original Message------

The problem with the perspective of the article here is that if we were to do away with every museum, art collection or cultural institution that was funded by people who weren't or aren't perfect, there would no such institutions left except for a few government funded ones, probably dedicated to the glory of the government, as exist in places with totalitarian regimes. The article cites the "robber barons", and we have to acknowledge that much of what we have as major cultural ​institutions and museums came along thanks to them. No one is perfect, not even the great virtue signalers of the left, so really, I don't see why we can't accept the good that can be done with the money given by less then perfect people. Maybe a better solution would be to avoid name branding everything in a donor's name and putting the emphasis on what the museum or collection is actually about, such as naming a new gallery "Gallery of African Art" rather than "Mr. and Mrs. Donor Gallery"
We must also acknowledge that so many of the world's treasured landmarks were built with the money of people with less than perfect reputations, such as the iconic and beautiful St. Basil's and Kremlin in Moscow that were built by Ivan the Terrible.

------------------------------
Valeria Kondratiev
The Frick Collection
New York NY
------------------------------