May 2005
Cincy-Born Artist a Sign of Watered Down National Art
By Nathan Kerr
QCF Magazine staff writer
The National Medal of Arts is a prize awarded by the president, the most prestigious art prize awarded by the government. Past recipients range from pop culture icons Bob Hope and Barbara Streisand to masters of post-war art Willem De Kooning and Loise Nevelson. Last year, the winner was an artist of local origin, Cincinnati-born John Ruthven.
The National Medal of Arts is a lifetime achievement award “awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who, in his judgment…are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States .” (nea.gov) Created by Ronald Reagan and the self-declared conservative Republican Frank Hodsoll, the prize was born out of the period of artistic turmoil that was the U.S. in the 1980s, awarded to artists, educators, patrons and corporate sponsors of the arts.
Ruthven's Ducks
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Proclaimed as an “internationally recognized wildlife artist,” Ruthven works in the tradition of American legend James Audubon. Ruthven received the award “for his impeccably accurate and unfailingly beautiful wildlife art, and in recognition of his contributions as an artist and naturalist to conserving our natural treasures,” by the National Endowment for the Arts.
So, how is it his work has contributed to the “growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States ” when only a handful of museums have his works in their collection, and the bulk of his 40-year career consists of commercial art and corporate commissions?
With the rise of modernism, the sort of “impeccably accurate” portrayals Ruthven is praised for became played out so to speak. Artists left behind old means of representation in search of new ones that more truthfully related to their worlds and ideas. |
Somewhere along the path of history, the art world began to alienate the public. Museum patrons eager to see monumental representational paintings were confronted with urinals, snow shovels and canvases wildly slathered and spattered with paint, offered up for their aesthetic enjoyment. Seen through the eyes of the art historian, these objects were profound and important. But to the layperson, they were often offensive.
Today it seems the art world risks alienating itself from the public entirely. As the old joke – another relic from the 80s – goes, “What’s the difference between pornography and art? A government grant.” It would be logical to assume the art most relevant to people’s lives is the art created in their time. This, however, is not the case. Contemporary art, as the joke illustrates, holds a somewhat degraded position in the public eye. Maybe Ruthven, although not necessarily important in the art world, is a good choice because the public can relate to his work. Maybe paintings of owls and game birds are more relevant to the lives of the American public than what the art world has celebrated for the past 40 years or so.
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It is easy for the art world to write off the National Medal of Arts as a joke. In the award’s 20-year history it has passed over many artists who have changed the course of art history. Andy Warhol, one of history’s most influential artists, is conspicuously missing from the list of past recipients. Furthermore the award seems to have been used divisively for political means, given to corporations like Texaco and Exxon as outstanding patrons of the arts and Ray Bradbury, the author who begrudged Michael Moore for the title of his documentary lampooning the president.
Putting political objections aside, a question remains as to what purpose the most prestigious art prize the government awards is to serve. Is it to act as the voice of the people in deciding who is deserving of such honors, or is it to honor those artists celebrated by the art world as important and deserving?
"The Podium" is Queen City Forum Magazine's opinion page. Guest writers and staff writers offer their take on social, political and life issues.
Contact Information
· nathank@queencityforum.com
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