Dan's Papers - May 22, 2009 - Lichtenstein, Harrison at LongHouse

This year's annual meeting of the League of Women Voters took place at the LongHouse Reserve recently. Business as usual was followed by two noteworthy events - Dorothy Lichtenstein's acceptance of an award honoring her many contributions to the East End and a keynote address on federal art patronage by Helen Harrison.

Lichtenstein's considerable involvement in the community includes her seats on both the Parrish Art Museum and LongHouse Reserve boards, not to mention her role as president of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. She is also a member of the League of Women Voters herself and has gone above and beyond her call of duty by opening her home to local campaigners and citizens, so that voters may make an informed choice. She is also an unwavering carpool advocate.

Lichtenstein's gracious acceptance of the League's award was followed by a speech from Helen Harrison, director of the Pollack-Krasner House. She presented an informed and humorous survey of the often-strained relationship between the federal government and artists, beginning with the Declaration of Independence. At its inception, the federal government set a precedent for its uneasy association with artists, when it commissioned a series of paintings from John Trumble. He completed eight works but the nascent U.S. stingily only purchased four. In addition to establishing a less than ideal working relationship, this incident also helped forge the dichotomy which was to define the federal art patronage system until this day - the government's desire to acquire and the artist's desire to create. For many years the commission and acquire model was adopted, with federal tastes firmly planted in the neo-classical tradition.

It wasn't until the 1930s with Franklin D. Roosevelt's Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) that the two models were able to coexist peaceably, for a short period of time. The PWAP employed artists who needed a job and who had a desire to create. The most important aspect of the project was to find employment for the unemployed, and so the quality control, formerly deeply entrenched in federal art patronage, was sidestepped. At the same time, the government set aside money for commissions, like post office murals and poster design. In this way, emerging artists, hungry indigents and established artists all found support for their work in the US government.

The PWAP was succeeded by the Federal Art Project (FAP), a similar program, and was dismantled after World War II when the acquisition model was fully reinstated. Since the 1980s federal grants have become fewer and fewer, and the criteria for commission more and more rigid.

Now there is a new plan on the table, as part of the Obama stimulus package, to provide funding for emerging artists that are willing to get involved in a community and provide education opportunities. Unfortunately this legislation provides nothing for established artists, who are also suffering from the economic recession.

Harrison ended her speech by reminding us that such artists as Jackson Pollack and Lee Krasner were greatly benefited by the PWAP. She urges us to consider what the next generation might hold if the US government were once again to support its artists, successful and undiscovered alike.

She was an excellent choice for the keynote speaker at the League of Women Voters annual meeting. It is grassroots organizations like this one that provide avenues to communicate with our government and ensure that America's artists are encouraged and protected.