Blinq on letting Go

The issue is not what good the money could be used for but rather what respect an institution has for protecting a cultural heritage. Stewardship means more than just buying and selling property at the whims of the times. Value ebbs and flows with the interests of collective culture. What might be worth $68 million today could be worthless 100 years from now. The image of The Gross Clinic by Eakins is linked to the idea of human knowledge. That is what the painter fought for when he tried to strip away the moral veil of modesty. To show the surgery of the time is no different than showing open heart operations on TV today.

Just this past year there was great excitement over the exhibit of the plastic corpse which raised millions of dollars for the Franklin institute.

It is sad that there are those who dismiss the visual arts as unimportant.

The State of PA raised millions to build the Kimmel for the orchestra. I bet many of those who go to hear the sweet sounds of Mahler are on the Board of Jefferson. How many of them have allowed themselves to see the magic of the Clinic?

$68 million = 1360 Pew grants for the Arts


Blinq: "Let it go. We've got bigger problems. Although it makes me wonder what we could get for that boxer standing outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art."