Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: November 23, 2020 at 7:55:14 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Pennsylvania]: Black on Holzman, 'Contested Image: > Defining Philadelphia for the Twenty-First Century' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Laura M. Holzman. Contested Image: Defining Philadelphia for the > Twenty-First Century. Philadelphia Temple University Press, 2019. > xi + 198 pp. $29.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-4399-1588-2; $99.50 (cloth), > ISBN 978-1-4399-1587-5. > > Reviewed by Jennifer M. Black (Misericordia University) > Published on H-Pennsylvania (November, 2020) > Commissioned by Jeanine Mazak-Kahne > > With _Contested Image,_ Laura Holzman traces how three icons--the > Barnes Foundation art collection, Thomas Eakins's _The Gross Clinic > _(1875), and the bronze sculpture of fictional boxer Rocky Balboa, > from the film _Rocky III _(1982)--became "pictures for the city" of > Philadelphia. The book builds upon her curatorial experience in > place-based contemporary art projects and culls together editorials, > letters, blog posts, correspondence, and other artifacts of public > discourse, as well as her own personal experience living in > Philadelphia during a time of intense cultural debate in the early > 2000s. The very public debates surrounding the relocation of these > objects imbued them with new meaning, Holzman argues, fusing them > with the identity of the city itself. The book links together > conversations in art history with public history, urban history, and > visual culture and points to the ways in which such images and > objects can gain new significance in the wake of contemporary > cultural debates. > > Holzman's story begins with a sweeping introduction to Philadelphia's > history over the past 250 years: from the center of political life in > the late colonial and early national period to its fall from > prominence in the nineteenth century as other East Coast cities grew > their populations and industry. By the twentieth century, local > boosters stressed the importance of Philadelphia's cultural > institutions, a sensibility that continued to shape the city's > identity and figured heavily in urban renewal efforts during the late > 1990s and early 2000s. > > This context of urban renewal and redevelopment frames the book's > middle chapters, which tackle each icon in case-study fashion. > Financial troubles around the year 2000 prompted the trustees of the > Barnes Foundation to consider relocating the prestigious art > collection from its 1925 Beaux-Arts mansion on a quiet, residential > street in Merion, PA, to downtown Philadelphia. By this time the > Barnes collection had gained international acclaim and, in some ways, > outgrown its secluded suburban location. A prolonged public and legal > debate ensued over the next decade as many argued for the > site-specificity of the collection--including the importance of > keeping it in the suburbs--while others pointed to issues of public > access and its potential to promote much-needed tourism to the city. > Such debates, Holzman argues, shaped the design of the new downtown > building: its architectural features "reflected the [now] public > orientation of the collection" while the landscape designs showed > continuity with the Merion location (p. 70). Holzman asserts that > these public arguments about the importance of the collection and its > ties to the city transformed the Barnes collection into a signifier > for the city itself, an icon which Philadelphians adopted to frame > their city's identity as a premier site for cultural engagement in > the twenty-first century. > > Like the relocation of the Barnes collection, a 2006 proposal to sell > Eakins's painting to an out-of-state buyer resulted in intense public > debate. But in this case, Philadelphians rallied together to keep > _The Gross Clinic _in the city. This chapter articulates the book's > argument most clearly and is the most compelling case study of the > three. Again, Holzman argues that public discourse transformed the > painting into a "city icon that played a crucial role in negotiating > Philadelphia's reputation" at the time (p. 77). Yet rather than > international acclaim, as was the case with the Barnes collection, > Holzman points to the private significance of _The Gross > Clinic_--that is, individuals' private memories of the painting on > display, and the intersections of those memories with visions of > Philadelphia--as the mitigating factor that made the painting an > iconic image for the city. At a time when Philadelphia was attempting > to rebrand its public image, saving _The Gross Clinic _enabled > Philadelphians to demonstrate their commitment to high culture. They > redefined Philadelphia as a "sophisticated metropolis" whose cultural > resources and institutions were highly valued by residents (p. 78). > Philadelphia thus pivoted from its twentieth-century image as a > crime-ridden, postindustrial wasteland to a world-class cultural > center for the twenty-first century. As Holzman notes, saving > Eakins's painting helped to reassert Philadelphia's "significance as > a place with superb medical facilities, top-notch museums with > world-class conservation teams, and audiences who cared deeply about > the art on display in their city" (p. 97). > > Philadelphians may have been confident about the significance of _The > Gross Clinic, _but they wrestled with what to do with the Rocky > statute from the first moment of its arrival in the city. Sylvester > Stallone donated the sculpture to the city in the early 1980s after > filming _Rocky III_, proposing that the statue be placed at the top > of the east steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), as is > pictured in the films. While many fans agreed, others objected to the > inclusion of an object from commercial pop culture on such sacred > high-brow ground. Holzman argues that the ongoing arguments over the > proper placement of the statue--from the city's sports complex to the > PMA steps to the Eakins Oval just adjacent to the PMA (its current > home)--revolved around changing notions of _which_ cultural > achievements were acceptable to serve as representations for the > city. In other words, the Rocky statue facilitated a broader debate > about the relative value of high culture versus popular culture to > the city's public image. Tracing these discussions, Holzman points to > the interconnected nature of the film's popularity, public > appropriations of Rocky's iconic climb to the top of the steps, and > the changing views of city leaders and cultural institutions. By the > early 2000s, Philadelphians had grown accustomed to the underdog > spirit embodied by the Rocky character, causing the film's tale of > perseverance-despite-adversity to resonate with the city's rebranding > efforts and shifting identity. > > Throughout the text, Holzman provides convincing evidence that by > 2010 these three objects gained iconic status and were intrinsically > linked to Philadelphia's public image. An art historian by training, > Holzman skillfully incorporates compelling visual analyses into her > text, particularly of _The Gross Clinic _and the Rocky statue. Her > rendering defines visual culture very broadly--and, I think, > successfully--by invoking the site-specificity of visual meaning. She > thus provides important new directions for historians studying visual > culture. Yet there were moments when additional attention to context, > especially the culture wars of the 1990s and Philadelphia's history > of racial tensions, would have strengthened her argument. Matthew > Frye Jacobson, in _Roots Too _(2006), has given a superb reading of > the _Rocky _series as a call to working-class whites who, in the wake > of deindustrialization and civil rights agitation, felt disempowered > and left out of the national conversation. In Jacobson's view, > Rocky's story gave working-class whites a new hero, who redeemed > white masculinity for the post-civil rights era. While Holzman > carefully notes the city's efforts at urban renewal and > revitalization early in the book, she does not reconnect this context > to the icons she digests in later chapters, nor does she fully > explain _why_ the city needed to rebrand itself. Implicit here is the > postindustrial reality of dilapidated buildings, crime, and poverty > that riddled many American cities in the 1970s and 1980s, and, of > course, the connection in popular consciousness between these > unsavory aspects of the city and the people of color who lived there. > Rereading Holzman's subjects through this lens, one might argue that > they become not just icons for the city of Philadelphia, but > implicitly icons for white culture. The Barnes collection points to > the city's storied high-brow past, when white elites became the > custodians of high culture and education. _The Gross Clinic _evokes > the city's historically prominent (and white) medical colleges while > the Rocky statue gestures to the white working-class "underdogs" of > the postindustrial era. Repositioning these three objects as icons > for the city might have allowed whites to symbolically _reclaim _the > city. Was this reinvention of the city's image really just a > whitewashing, and perhaps an effort to detour the city's identity > away from its historical connections to African American culture? In > particular, I wondered how the successes of 1990s hip-hop artists > such as DJ Jazzy Jeff, the Fresh Prince, and Boyz II Men might have > figured into the desire to rebrand the city a decade later. Finally, > the public's embrace of the Rocky statue, often in direct defiance of > high-brow tastemakers, seems to parallel the broader threads of > anti-elitism and anti-intellectualism percolating in national culture > at the time. Situating the Rocky statue within these two > contexts--race relations and the culture wars--could provide a rich > opportunity to understand how race and class may have intertwined in > this moment, structuring the conversations about which culture (and > whose culture) was and is most worthy of the city's celebration and > adoption for its rebranded public image. > > Holzman has written a provocative text that raises important > questions and thus provides ample new avenues for research. As a > meditation on the place of visual culture in the contemporary urban > environment, it is, despite these criticisms, widely successful. Most > importantly, Holzman reminds us of the impermanence and contingency > surrounding urban icons and identities. She smartly navigates between > public discourse and academic discussions, providing a well-evidenced > and accessible narrative that is sure to promote further inquiry on > these fascinating intersections between visual culture, urban > studies, and Pennsylvania history. > > Citation: Jennifer M. Black. Review of Holzman, Laura M., _Contested > Image: Defining Philadelphia for the Twenty-First Century_. > H-Pennsylvania, H-Net Reviews. November, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55205 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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