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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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090489
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09048900.050
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1990-09-22
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LETTERS, Page 8Money for Art
In reply to Robert Hughes' piece supporting public funding for
controversial art (ESSAY, Aug. 14): yes, pharaohs, kings and Popes
endowed great art, but for their own glory and to suit their own
taste. U.S. artists trample on the values of the Neanderthals and
make them pay for it.
Christopher S. Johnson
Webster Groves, Mo.
As a backer of the arts, I am concerned about Senator Jesse
Helms' attack on the National Endowment for the Arts. I hope his
amendment forbidding the NEA to underwrite provocative projects is
defeated. Arts funding is hard to obtain, and we do not need this
Neanderthal's prehistoric ideas on artistic freedom.
Jane Jenkins
Hickory, N.C.
I hate to admit it, but there is a valid point in Helms'
"paleo-conservative" rhetoric that we in the arts must heed. While
much of Robert Mapplethorpe's work is art, some of it is, in my
opinion, highly polished pornography, and people are entitled to
be outraged on seeing it displayed under the aegis of the NEA. The
art community must be willing to admit that not everything that
calls itself art merits public funding, or we will be handing Helms
the ammunition for his attack on Government financing for the arts.
Debora Meltz
Newton, N.J.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art did not receive NEA funds for the
Mapplethorpe exhibition. The NEA provided money directly to the
Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, which organized a
touring Mapplethorpe retrospective.
Debra B. Shriver
Director of Public Affairs
The Corcoran Gallery of Art
Washington