So reads the title and by-line for an editorial yesterday at OpinionJournal.com by Philippe de Montebello, the curator at the Met in NY. Rachelle and I just returned from a Memorial Day weekend in NYC, visiting several museums, including the Met. I had even wondered, "Why do I want to go to a museum?" (The museum trip, at the time, balanced our cultural experience at the Yankees/Red Sox baseball game.)
For me, the article does articulate the anthropological draw of museums: For the study and understanding of mankind, and I might add, our cultures and shared history (including His-story). However, the editorial ends on a blatantly humanistic note:
My question is: Who made these things? The answer: We did, our species did. Isn't that reason enough to maintain our faith in humankind? ...What we learn is that no matter the degree of chaos and adversity surrounding him, man has shown his capability to excel, to surpass. That is the ultimate assurance of renewal and survival. And it is one of the great lessons of the art museum.
Our visit at the Met was enjoyable, both from a historical and cultural perspective.
That experience contrasted greatly with our trip the International Center of Photography, who has a current exhibit by Larry Clark. Here's a brief from ICP curator Brian Wallis:
To address...issues Clark often uses sexually explicit imagery, as well as scenes of overt drug use and violence, actions that are addressed casually by his subjects but which are often shocking to his audiences.
That exhibit disgusted us and we left after a relativly short perusal. Mr. Clark was "documenting" the underworld in Tulsa with utterly repulsive and explicit photographs. Even art critics differed on whether Mr. Clark's work was even "art." His "autobiography" seemed nothing more than a reliving of his youth vicariously through other's drug use and sexual acts. Urgh!
Rah-Rah for mankind, indeed! Take me out to the ball game.
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