I read this to my husband, a student of both Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock. He looked up and asked, “Have gay intellectuals defended them?”
> On Dec 5, 2020, at 11:59 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > > (I fully expect Thomas Chatterton Williams to take up Johnson's defense > against "cancel culture".) > > Artists Ask MoMA to Remove Philip Johnson’s Name, Citing Racist Views > A group of more than 30 artists and academics have signed a letter asking > institutions like the Museum of Modern Art to excise the influential > architect’s name from their spaces. > > > <https://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=9869919170&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F12%2F03%2Farts%2Fdesign%2Fphilip-johnson-moma.html%3Fsmid%3Dfb-share&name=Artists%20Ask%20MoMA%20to%20Remove%20Philip%20Johnson%E2%80%99s%20Name%2C%20Citing%20Racist%20Views&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F> > > <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F12%2F03%2Farts%2Fdesign%2Fphilip-johnson-moma.html%3Fsmid%3Dtw-share&text=Artists%20Ask%20MoMA%20to%20Remove%20Philip%20Johnson%E2%80%99s%20Name%2C%20Citing%20Racist%20Views> > > <mailto:?subject=NYTimes.com%3A%20Artists%20Ask%20MoMA%20to%20Remove%20Philip%20Johnson%E2%80%99s%20Name%2C%20Citing%20Racist%20Views&body=From%20The%20New%20York%20Times%3A%0A%0AArtists%20Ask%20MoMA%20to%20Remove%20Philip%20Johnson%E2%80%99s%20Name%2C%20Citing%20Racist%20Views%0A%0AA%20group%20of%20more%20than%2030%20artists%20and%20academics%20have%20signed%20a%20letter%20asking%20institutions%20like%20the%20Museum%20of%20Modern%20Art%20to%20excise%20the%20influential%20architect%E2%80%99s%20name%20from%20their%20spaces.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F12%2F03%2Farts%2Fdesign%2Fphilip-johnson-moma.html%3Fsmid%3Dem-share> > > > > Credit...Jane Beiles for The New York Times > <https://www.nytimes.com/by/sarah-bahr> > By Sarah Bahr <https://www.nytimes.com/by/sarah-bahr> > NYT, Dec. 3, 2020 > Philip Johnson was one of the most influential architects of the past > century, chameleonic in each of his roles as a New York power broker, art > collector and creator of his “Glass House > <https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/arts/design/06glas.html>,” a celebrated > landmark of modernist design in Connecticut. > He also championed racist and white supremacist viewpoints in his younger > years. Johnson’s Nazi sympathies, for example, have been well documented, and > he spent the years after World War II trying to distance himself from them. > > ADVERTISEMENT > Continue reading the main story > <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/arts/design/philip-johnson-moma.html#after-story-ad-1> > The letter was signed by the contemporary artist Xaviera Simmons; the > landscape architect and MacArthur fellow Kate Orff; and V. Mitch McEwen, an > assistant professor of architecture at Princeton University, who is among > eight of the 10 architects in an upcoming exhibition at MoMA — > “Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America > <https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5219>” — that is slated to open > Feb. 20. > It cites Johnson’s “widely documented” advocacy for white supremacist views, > his attempt to found a fascist party in Louisiana, and failure to include > work by a single Black artist or designer in MoMA’s collection during his > tenure there. (He served in various roles over six decades.) The letter > called on any institutions using his name to remove it. > Gift Subscriptions to The Times, Cooking and Games. > Starting at $25. > <https://www.nytimes.com/subscription/gift?campaignId=9LHRQ&channel=ometered&areas=inlineUnit&campaign=coregift> > “He not only acquiesced in but added to the persistent practice of racism in > the field of architecture,” the letter said, “a legacy that continues to do > harm today.” > Johnson’s name has been on one of the exhibition galleries at the Museum of > Modern Art, where he served as its first head of architecture and design, > since 1984. His name is also included in the title of the museum’s chief > curator of architecture and design. > Johnson created buildings that are widely considered architectural > masterpieces of the 20th century, among them the MoMA sculpture garden and > the pavilion that houses pre-Columbian art at the Dumbarton Oaks estate in > Washington. The New York Times critic Paul Goldberger praised him as American > architecture’s “godfather, gadfly, scholar, patron, critic, curator, and > cheerleader” in his obituary > <https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/world/americas/obituary-philip-johnson-98-a-monumental-force-on-us.html>. > Editors’ Picks > > > Once the Disease of Gluttonous Aristocrats, Gout Is Now Tormenting the Masses > > > <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/t-magazine/gout-tormenting-masses.html?action=click&algo=als_engaged1_desk_filter&block=editors_picks_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=882909158&impression_id=69fa81a0-3723-11eb-8a4b-c3333ce55322&index=0&pgtype=Article®ion=ccolumn&req_id=780361296&surface=home-featured&action=click&module=editorContent&pgtype=Article®ion=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending> > > How Francis Ford Coppola Got Pulled Back In to Make ‘The Godfather, Coda’ > > > <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/movies/godfather-coda-francis-ford-coppola.html?action=click&algo=als_engaged1_desk_filter&block=editors_picks_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=185936657&impression_id=69fa81a1-3723-11eb-8a4b-c3333ce55322&index=1&pgtype=Article®ion=ccolumn&req_id=780361296&surface=home-featured&action=click&module=editorContent&pgtype=Article®ion=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending> > > Pedophile Scandal Can’t Crack the Closed Circles of Literary France > > > <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/28/world/europe/france-literary-prizes-matzneff.html?action=click&algo=als_engaged1_desk_filter&block=editors_picks_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=982346738&impression_id=69fa81a2-3723-11eb-8a4b-c3333ce55322&index=2&pgtype=Article®ion=ccolumn&req_id=780361296&surface=home-featured&action=click&module=editorContent&pgtype=Article®ion=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending> > Continue reading the main story > <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/arts/design/philip-johnson-moma.html?action=click&module=editorContent&pgtype=Article®ion=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending#after-pp_edpick> > ADVERTISEMENT > Continue reading the main story > <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/arts/design/philip-johnson-moma.html#after-story-ad-2> > But in his younger years, he openly admired > <https://www.newyorker.com/culture/dept-of-design/philip-johnson-the-man-who-made-architecture-amoral> > Hitler’s manifesto, “Mein Kampf,” attended Nazi rallies in Germany and was > investigated by the F.B.I. > <https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/one-of-americas-most-famous-architects-was-a-nazi-propa-1566021324> > for his connections to the Nazi party. He rejected Nazism after the end of > World War II. > Representatives from MoMA and Harvard did not immediately respond to requests > for comment on Thursday. But in an email on Friday, a MoMA spokeswoman said, > “The museum is taking this issue very seriously and is extensively > researching all available information.” > Ms. Orff, the landscape architect and MacArthur fellow, said in an email on > Thursday that removing Johnson’s name from the gallery and the curator > position would represent a significant step in dismantling racism in design > culture. > “Landscape architecture is catching up in its assessment of its own legacy,” > Ms. Orff said. “To move forward with a more imaginative, just, and equitable > culture in the design fields, we have to reckon with past figures who set the > ground rules.” > Sarah Bahr is a reporter on the Culture desk and a member of the 2020-2021 > New York Times fellowship class. @smbahr14 <https://twitter.com/smbahr14> > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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