An Art Museum Without Immigrant Art? Davis Museum at Wellesley College
The Davis Museum at Wellesley College announced that it will demonstrate the critical role that immigrants to the United States have played in the arts, both in their creative contributions as well as their stewardship of the visual arts, with an initiative called, Art-Less.
In support of the American Association of Museum Director’s statement on President Trump’s recent executive order, the Museum will de-install or shroud all works of art in its permanent collections galleries that were either created by or given to Wellesley’s art collection by immigrants to the United States. This means approximately 120 works of art—roughly 20 percent of the objects on view in the Museum’s permanent collections galleries—will be either taken down or covered in black cloth.
“Every permanent collections gallery will be affected by the subtraction of works created by or given to the Museum by an immigrant to the United States,” said Claire Whitner, Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of Collections, and overseer of the project.
“Art-Less demonstrates in stark and indisputable terms the impact of immigration on our collections,” said Lisa Fischman, the Ruth Gordon Shapiro ’37 Director of the Davis, “and we proudly take the opportunity to signal that impact, to honor the gifts of creativity and generosity that make the Davis Museum and the Wellesley community great.”
At the Davis Museum, paintings will be taken off the walls, and objects under cases will be covered in black cloth. Paintings, bronze and wood sculptures, ceremonial masks, and more from the European, American, African, contemporary, and modern collections will be disrupted by this intervention. Absences created by the removal or obscuring of works from view will be marked with labels that indicate “made by an immigrant” or “given by an immigrant.”
In one particularly poignant example, the space that is usually occupied by a stately portrait of George Washington will be bare, even as President’s Day takes place next Monday.
KJ