What's a museum to do?
Plus, the Kennedy Center gets a significant proposed budget increase...but for what?
Hello.
I spent my birthday moving about in a kind of compulsive path, blasting my senses with visual stimuli that might keep my mind occupied and fixated on things outside of myself and the onward march of time, etc. The reason I am well-suited to alone time, despite genuinely savoring the company of others, is because I have a preternatural stamina for consuming art. When I travel by myself, I move from to museum to performance to architectural site to museum again. It is helpful for me to face creations entirely outside of myself, with which I can engage in a temporary reciprocal relationship. I excel as a viewer.
I think we are all a bit too inside ourselves, a lot of the time. Social media drives the impulse for optimization of all facets of oneself, to make more money to buy the right things, which may stand in as a symbol…of what? I love nice things—beautiful clothes and home design—but sometimes I must pause and question the drive for ownership at excess that I see even in myself.
And so, I seek beauty in manifestations that have nothing to do with me—art of the visual and auditory kinds—because it is beneficial to remember that I exist in an expansive world with a rich history that affords me the privilege of enjoying the products of another person’s creativity, effort, and genius. I think it is beneficial for everyone to think of other people more than they think about themselves.
I started my birthday spending a ludicrous sum of money on breakfast at Cafe Sabarsky because I wanted to be in a beautiful place that made me feel like I was back in Vienna, and also, because I wanted a pretzel. (It is walk-in only for breakfast and lunch; if you arrive before 11 a.m. you should only have to wait 15-20 min for a table). While I drank my melange I read Why Dance Matters, a great essay collection by my former college professor, dance critic Mindy Aloff. I finished the book later in the week.
I then went to the Met, where I saw the Caspar David Friedrich exhibit before it closed today, as well as the more recently opened John Singer Sargent exhibit. I was surprised at the amount of religious imagery in the Friedrich curation, which I did not quite expect for the artist who made the painting that pretty much defines Romanticism in the 19th century. I was quite struck by the use of light in many of his works, particularly Ruins at Oybin. I was in hurry, so I didn’t linger in the Sargent exhibit as long as I’d have liked, and it is well worth a revisit. Sargent is, of course, most known for his painting Madame X, but there were so many wonderful character portraits, like the striking Smoke of Ambergris, and several paintings that made me ask, “Who is he?” I also loved the scenes of city life, particularly the two paintings of Pasdeloup Orchestra. I then scurried to the Frick, where I got to see Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s gorgeous portrait of the Comtesse d'Haussonville after many years of distance. It may be worth getting a membership to skip the long lines, which may or may not continue once the excitement about the museum’s reopening eases to a more moderate tempo. (Thanks to
’s membership, I did not have to wait).I saw New York City Ballet three times this week—a real compulsion that I cannot quit even though I have lost access to their $30 tickets now that I have reached the wisened age of 31, at which point I am ostensibly supposed to be more financially buoyant than I am in reality. On Sunday, I got to see my favorite, Glass Pieces (you can watch a view of the Paris Opera Ballet perform it on YouTube), and I was very stressed to witness recently promoted principal Gilbert Bolden III rupture his achilles seemingly during a very complex tour en l'air / pirouette sequence in Balanchine’s Scotch Symphony. I—and many other members of the audience—gasped when he paused near the end of his solo, fell, and had to pull himself into the wings. Before his injury, he danced the role beautifully and tenderly, especially in the lingering, yearning moments of the pas de deux. Wishing him a smooth and easy recovery!!! Also in that program was Justin Peck’s Belles-Lettres, replete with his signature sinuous partnering sequences.
On Tuesday, I caught the Innovators & Icons II program—thankfully my friend Sarah is still 30 and procured tickets—and saw Alexei Ratmansky’s Paquita (after Petipa and Balanchine), A Suite of Dances by Jerome Robbins, After the Rain by Christopher Wheeldon, and Robbin’s Brandenburg. A Suite wasn’t my favorite—it is pretty obviously a piece choreographed for and on Baryshnikov, which can be difficult for anyone to pull off—but Brandenburg was fun, if just a touch too long. After the Rain is a longtime favorite I’d never seen before in person, and Unity Phelan was the perfect ballerina for the part. There are many great videos of this piece online. I first found it through this gorgeous video filmed on the top of 4 World Trade Center in 2013, though Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith performing it at the Fire Island Dance Festival in 2010 is also stunning. (Side note if anyone reading this would like to pay for me to go to the Fire Island Dance festival let me know….)
I was glad to see Paquita after missing it in the winter season. Watching it, I remembered that I myself had learned the original Petipa choreography back in 2009, so it was fun to see it performed with slight adjustments. Mia Williams and Olivia Bell (who wasn’t originally slated for this performance) were phenomenal in the athletic pas de trois, and Roman Mejia had a jaw-dropping performance in the grand pas with his on-and-offstage partner, Tiler Peck (whose pirouettes this show could not have been more spot-on). Mejia is having a great season, having just performed Apollo for the first time, and this was the first time he really blew me away. Not only did he get tremendous lift in his jumps—there was one jeté en tournant that seemed to defy gravity is such a way that I nearly didn’t think he’d come back to the stage floor—but beyond his precise technique, Mejia also comes to the stage with such charisma that you can’t help but get excited. He’s clearly having a lot of fun.
On Saturday, (thanks to NYCB member Jenelle Manzi, who I interviewed for my ballet entrepreneur story—and who has the most beautiful extensions and port de bras) I saw two Balanchine pieces: Divertimento No. 15—a complex yet classic piece that feels timeless though embedded in a rich history, and the dramatic, theatrical Vienna Waltzes which made me wonder, as I sometimes do, what the hell I have to do to get someone to send me to the Vienna Opera Ball. I am available!
On Friday, I went to the Whitney, where I enjoyed Christine Sun Kim’s fresh, eye-opening exhibit, All Day All Night, which includes many pieces that illuminate the experiences of the Deaf community and Sun Kim’s perspective on sound and hearing. It’s a thought-provoking and strikingly curated exhibit, and worth visiting before it closes July 6. If you’re not local to New York, you can also watch a walk-through on YouTube. I also enjoyed seeing Amy Sherald’s prolific body of work when it comes to portraiture, including her heartbreaking portrait of Breonna Taylor, which she painted after interviewing Taylor’s mother, and her official portrait of Michelle Obama which, in person, seems to have a quiet vulnerability about it. This exhibit runs through August 10.
Today, I was fortunate to attend pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen’s solo show at the Frick’s new Stephan A. Schwarzman auditorium. The space itself is stunning and fairly intimate, seating fewer than 300. Rushdie Momen (who is, yes, the niece of writer Salman Rushdie) is an expressive and thoughtful performer. The program included several pieces from the 16th century and two from living composers. I particularly enjoyed “Pavana Lachrymae” by William Byrd and the more esoteric “Shadowlines,” by George Benjamin, which, in spite of its often cataclysmic, epic scale, found an unexpected percussive accompaniment from the snores I heard behind me (the snorer seemed to wake up at the audience applause). Many of the works Rushdie Momen played were composed for 16th-century keyboards, but on a glossy, grand Steinway, they sound smooth and clarifying. Her album, Reformation, came out last year, and is available wherever you find your music, most likely.
Wow that’s a lot about me for a newsletter that started with me saying how I was trying to think less about myself! But maybe you will enjoy some more diaristic sends? I am thinking of ways I can publish more on here, so I am curious to know what might interest you the most.
In any case, here is the news.
The fate of the National Endowment for the Arts is going to continue to be a big story we are following, as well as the path forward for the very many organizations that have long relied on these federal funds. Trump just nominated Mary Anne Carter to lead the NEA; she previously led it in his first term, and it saw its budget increase then, even though it also faced threats of elimination at the time. Carter, the New York Times says, has expressed a passion for arts access and considers herself a “dance mom.” Positive comments—but it’s not yet clear what this will really mean for the agency. What I expect: the NEA won’t be completely abolished (that would take an act of Congress) but much like the National Endowment for the Humanities, the rules and requirements for grants will tighten and focus on supporting projects that have a narrower definition of patriotism and a specific lens of American history. I would love to be proven wrong!
Of note is the fact that all 10 directors at the NEA are leaving as of this past week, as are at least two members of senior leadership, the Washington Post reported. The American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, which represents employees at the NEA, told the paper: “These coerced resignations are another attempt to dismantle the NEA altogether.”
ArtNet is keeping tabs on art organizations that have lost NEA funding, though the list is not totally comprehensive. It does feel like an art-loving billionaire—or even a group of rich people—could put together $200 million to swoop in and save the day (if temporarily) and get some good press and goodwill. In the meantime, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation have joined forces to pool $800,000 to award 80 organizations impacted by the NEA cuts $10k each.
This week, the Trump administration also fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. She was the first woman and the first African American to hold the role. She was appointed to her position in 2016 by President Obama.
Perhaps suspiciously, Republican lawmakers have approved a budget proposal that would allocate $257 million to the Kennedy Center for capital repairs and other expenses. This is, the New York Times notes, six times what it usually gets from the federal government. There is also not much information about how this money would really be used. Maine representative Chellie Pingree, the top Democrat on the House subcommittee overseeing the arts endowment, told the NYT in a statement: “…we must ensure that funds appropriated by Congress are truly benefiting the artists and audiences that make the Kennedy Center great. We need transparency on how this money would be spent and assurance it’s not being used to reward loyalty or bankroll pet projects under the guise of cultural investment.”
Some good news: Minneapolis is investing in its dance community. The city earmarked $350,000 annually to pour into dance education for students, and it is reportedly working on additional funding to support dance companies in the city, KSTP Eyewitness News reported.
For my full-time job, I wrote about Future Fair, the five-year-old addition to New York Art Week, which is making art collecting and exhibiting more accessible on a number of different levels.
Those renovations at the Louvre are not happening fast enough. A hailstorm last weekend caused water to leak into the museum’s Cimabue exhibit, nearly damaging his masterpiece, Maestà (1280-85), The Art Newspaper reported. Oupsi!
I think I might have a parasocial friendship with Nicholas Cullinan because the director of the British Museum really manages to win me over in every interview he does. Most recently for The Times (of London), he spoke about how important it is for him to keep the museum free for everyone, especially as someone who grew up working class: “I’d never have discovered art if I’d had to pay for it.”
He’s a strong advocate for lending artifacts (remember—because the British Museum is tied to Parliament, it isn’t so easy for it to repatriate artifacts that weren’t obviously looted) and he’s against the current practice by such institutions like the Brooklyn Museum and Tate Britain of overriding wall text with contemporary perspectives. Facts and context are the most critical elements, he says: “Viewers don’t want anything hectoring or accusatory.”
One thing that’s still in contention: the fact that the Museum just accepted £50 million from BP. I’ve been having a lot of thoughts on these kinds of donations lately, and I’ll write more at length when I’ve done more research on the history of arts philanthropy, but I can see where Cullinan is coming from: “We need philanthropic individuals and corporations to keep our doors open and rebuild the collection, otherwise where’s the money coming from? The taxpayers can’t give any more.” Protesters, he says, should be lobbying politicians instead. It’s also worth noting, as he points out, “Museums are under much more of a microscope than most other charities and organizations. There is far less fuss about ownership of football clubs.”
Let’s keep an eye on Opera Theater of St. Louis, which just appointed soprano Patricia Racette as its next artistic director. She told the New York Times she’s eager to invest in contemporary works and to experiment with genre-bending—all in the effort of expanding the company’s audience.
A big loss: Koyo Kouoh, curator and executive director of Cape Town’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, passed away yesterday at the far-too-young age of 57. The cause was cancer. She was slated to be the first African woman to curate the Venice Biennale, and she was reportedly expected to announce the exhibition’s theme for next year within days. Spokespeople for the Biennale did not say how it will be moving forward with next year’s event. Kouoh was a deeply important force within the contemporary art world. I really enjoyed reading
’s touching remembrance of her. ▲