The folks working for the future NW Arkansas museum, Crystal Bridges, have brought art critic/philosopher Arthur C. Danto to town for a speaking engagement. Crystal Bridges was founded by Alice Walton and is to open in 2010. You may have heard about some of the museum’s more notorious purchases and almost-purchases.
Danto’s an odd choice. I was under the impression that museum’s collection strengths were pre-20th c. American, hence the eagerness for that Eakins. Am I wrong about that?
Well, it is and it isn’t. They can’t book the critics who would’ve praised Eakins in his own lifetime. I’m not speaking for them, but just because they want to collect older stuff doesn’t mean they want to avoid thinking about what’s happening now. But also, it is Arkansas. They’ll have to ease folks into the Mapplethorpes of the art world. And who better to get that train of thought started?
I’ve thought some about why they want to go ahead and start out collecting art from an established canon…and honestly, I think it’s because the museum is in Arkansas. It’s a legitimizing element to have indisputably important art in the collection, both for non-Arkansans and Arkansans themselves.