Robin Pegrebin reports in the Times that soon after opening its debut exhibition in its swanky new wing, the New York Historical quietly removed 20 objects and replaced them with reproductions. The issue was light sensitivity; the director directed that giant, south-facing windows be uncovered, because blinds that protected the artworks and historic artifacts were “disrespectful of the architect [Robert A.M. Stern]’s final museum project.”
Go to Pogrebin’s story for the on the record quotes of how this went down, and stay to admire its immediate impact. Because after several weeks of displaying it, when the NYH found out the Times was on it, they removed the flat color picture of Betye Saar’s 2017 sculpture, Extreme Times Call for Extreme Heroines.
Which, honestly? Right call. The NYH’s facsimile is slightly smaller than Saar’s object. Based on the dimensions of the Augusta Savage sculpture below it, the paper is close to the size of the sculpture (21 1/2 x 8 5/8 in.), but the image is 10-15% smaller.
Charles Ray has said that to feel “life-size,” a figural sculpture has to be just slightly larger than its human subject, in order to account for the person’s physical movement. Of course, a static sculpture doesn’t occupy space in this way. But printing an 8.625 inch sculpture on 8.5 inch paper, then not accounting for the margins, and calling it close enough feels hilariously half-assed.
And this is all before considering the installation of a multi-sided sculpture on a wall. Saar’s washboard sculpture has the abolitionist image of the slave ship Brookes on the back—which is actually the original front—and that motif is also printed on the Mammy figure’s apron. I would love to find out that the photocopy they tacked to the wall was printed on both sides.
And this leaves unaddressed the question of what happens next. The NYH really should decide if the Tang Wing is going to be a museum space where light-sensitive objects can never be shown. Partly because if it is, they really should get better at their facsimiles. And partly because the Met is building a Tang Wing, too, and it’d be good to let curators know in advance, rather than have to resign after the fact.
Yes, the show has drawn raves. But some of the objects are not real [sic] [nyt, ht @allthebeset]
Previously, related: The OG No Kings at the NY Historical
Museums Will Not Save Us, Annotated