Thanks to the swift pens of some very deep pocketed check writers, the Thomas Eakins painting The Gross Clinic (left) will be staying put in the city of its origin [via The Philadelphia Inquirer]. Philadelphia’s noblest cultural stewards – led by a $10 million personal donation by the director of the Annenberg Foundation – conjured up the necessary $68 million needed to purchase the work from Thomas Jefferson University who had planned on selling it to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Never heard of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art? Yeah, me neither, and likely for a variety of reasons. First of all, the shovels have just hit the dirt for construction and the facility isn’t slated to open until 2009. Oh, and the museum’s location – Bentonville, Arkansas – isn’t really on the list of art world hot spots.
Wait a minute … Bentonville, Arkansas? What the hell is in Bentonville, Arkansas? I’ve never been but I’ll go out on a limb and say “not much.”
Well, unless you count the corporate headquarters of none other than Wal-Mart.
Ahhh … *now* I get it.
Yes, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (great name, by the way – it reminds me of a kiosk I saw in the mall called “Crystal Odyssey” featuring all manner of glass unicorn, castle, and crucifix) is the money-child of Alice Walton, daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.
This story brings up so many issues, I’m not even sure where to begin …
Perhaps some small dots (or “bullets”) will help sort out the knotted threads:
Yes, $68 million is a lot of dough, but I am relieved to learn that The Gross Clinic is now the joint property of the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In a city so eager to toss scads of public cash at sports franchises whining for newer stadiums (at least when I lived there), it’s nice to see some private citizens (not a dime of taxpayer money will go towards the paintings purchase) unite to keep a vital piece of the city’s cultural heritage intact.
- $68 Million is A Heap of Money
Spending this much money on art – let alone one single piece of art – always
gets people riled up, especially in a staunchly blue-collar town like Philly. I’m elated the painting is staying, but I can’t help but hope (having worked at a few non-profit arts orgs. in my time) that this sort of windfall could appear for small, alternative spaces facilitating the art of today. Of course a masterpiece is worth keeping, but let’s not forget the funding realities of today’s art world, how they’ve affected the operations of art spaces, and how spending influences the future cultural heritage of the city. [Check out
this article by artist/critic Gary Nickard for an interesting look at how the never-ending quest for funding changed the focus of small art spaces over the last several decades.]
The history of powerful families buying up great works of art is as old as art itself and – aww, heck – I’ll even gently applaud Alice Walton for wanting to create a new institution for the care and feeding of America’s great works of art. (This, of course, without beginning to muse on how this museum’s collection and exhibitions might parallel Wal-Mart’s censorious grip on what culture is carried in their stores.) What I am fascinated by is the decentralization of American culture to a place like Bentonville. Urban capitals have long been home to the great cathedrals of art. Will this tradition shift as “place” continues to become less relevant in most aspects of economic and cultural production? Or is this a one-off by a well-heeled baroness who, as one newspaper put it, hopes to “enliven (the) art scene in NW Arkansas”? Not that you *have* to go to the big city to experience relevant art … but how much of worship is pilgrimage?
In summary:
1.) Spend money on preserving cultural heritage.
2.) Spend money on generating new culture.
3.) Money can redefine cultural trends and re/de-contextualize cultural objects.
4.) Money, money, money, money, money, money, money.
