Betye Saar Dies at 99
The beloved artist dies just four days before her 100th birthday. Also, Trump crosses a new line in his war against the Smithsonian.
Today we begin with sad news: Betye Saar dies in Los Angeles just four days before her 100th birthday. Read Associate Editor Lisa Yin Zhang's obituary of the beloved assemblage artist, who inspired many.
In other stories, the Smithsonian is under attack, again. In the latest episode of the Trump administration's war against the DC institution, the president orders the installation of signs that warn visitors about “extreme political activism” at the National Museum of American History (NMAH). This is not a bad dream — it's all real.
"No other president has seen fit to vandalize taxpayer-funded museums with a billboard telling people not to go inside, while directing them to more politically 'palatable' — which is to say extreme right-wing — revisions of the historical record," writes Ed Simon in an urgent opinion piece today. Also, check out Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar's tier list ranking of the most ridiculous questions that NMAH Director Anthea Hartig had to answer during a recent congressional hearing. “Is Mickey Mouse racist?” one Republican congressman asked her.
In 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was established, in the words of its benefactor and namesake, British scientist James Smithson, “for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men.” Today, the 21 museums centered in Washington, DC, and more than 200 affiliates throughout the United States, have indeed increased and diffused knowledge in the maintenance of an astounding 157 million objects. Along with the preservation and distribution of knowledge — never a neutral term — these museums have been the site of discourse and debate, conversation and controversy, as any indispensable cultural institution should be.
Through powerful interviews and archival insight, Black Curators Matter chronicles the voices and visionaries who reshaped American museums from the 1970s to today.
“Is Mickey Mouse racist?” Texas Republican Congressman Brandon Gill asked National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig.
The administration’s demand comes just days after the director of the National Museum of American History testified before a congressional subcommittee. | Isa Farfan
At the Folk Art Museum, “Self-Made” overcomes the problem of “insiders” ventriloquizing self-taught artists. | Ekin Erkan
A new monograph on the nonagenarian American painter is a well of bliss. | Hakim Bishara