Tuesday, August 4, 2009
THE CLOUDY CRYSTAL BALL
We just found a copy of a 1956 letter to Andy Warhol from the director of museum collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Warhol had donated his drawing called "Shoe." The director wrote, "I regret that I must report to you that the Committee decided, after careful consideration, that they ought not to accept it for our collection." He thanked Warhol, then added that he should pick up the drawing. Shoes were a favorite subject of Warhol's and are among his most famous images. The rejection didn't discourage Warhol, and today the museum possesses many of his shoe prints. As a collector, be careful what you pass up. But also remember--even museums make mistakes.
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This does not prove that the museum "did not know what it was doing." On the contrary, Warhol works are anti-art in their conception, so to upbraid a traditionalist decision seems odd. To the philosophically-consistent modern liberal, the present age is inherently one of subjectivity. To embrace Warhol should be of no greater value than to reject him.
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