ARTH 6930-Art & Global Diversity

Dr. Pamela Brekka

Reading Response Week 5

Kendra Edgell

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Critical Race Theory has become a hot topic in education across the nation, including art education. In the article “Art Education in Crisis: A Critical Race Studies Response to Endemic Complacency, the Coalition for Racial Equity in the Arts and Education (crea+e) provide a commentary on the endemic complacency within the field of art education on racial equity. This article discusses race and racism in art education and the problems within the field to address issues such as white supremacy and ways in which to work against racism in the arts and move forward. This article states that there is no debate that art should be a part of the basic curriculum in education, but the conditions in which art and art history is taught should be inclusive and not continue to “marginalize, exploit, oppress, and exclude particular groups of people.” (p. 17) The goal within art education should be to educate and serve students equally and work towards healing.

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“How the Monuments Came Down,” is a PBS documentary that followed the stories of the Confederate monuments in Richmond and the events that led to their removal. This documentary reveals the stories of many people in Richmond from the time the monuments were erected until they were taken down. The statues on Monument Avenue in Richmond were examples of white supremacy, and to some, a beacon of hope to many white supremacists after the Civil War, that the south would rise again. These stories were found in archives as well as from interviews with Richmond families, activists, journalists, historians, elected government officials and historians. This film goes in-depth about the funding, creation, and ultimate demise of the monuments, and their representation of racism and white supremacy.

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In the 2019 articles, “Why the Amsterdam Museum Will No Longer Use the Term ‘Dutch Golden Age,’ by Brigit Katz, and “A Dutch Golden Age? That’s Only Half the Story,” by Nina Siegal both author’s dive into problem with historical terms and names used in Amsterdam Museums.  Katz and Siegal both describe the history of Dutch culture during the 17th century and the lack of inclusiveness of people and artists of color in 17th Century art displays and exhibitions in museums in the Netherlands.

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Katz reminds us of Dutch Masters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer, and name of the period in which the worked, the “Dutch Golden Age.” Curator of the 17th-century exhibitions in the Amsterdam Museum, Tom van der Molen, announced the change in the name, “arguing that it glosses over the ugly realities of Dutch ascendancy.” (p. 1) Siegal writes that museums in Amsterdam are working to decolonize by changing the names of not only the time period in which the works were made, but also museums. One example of this is the Mauritshuis Museum named after a Dutch man who initiated slave trade in Brazil.

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Katz and Siegal both explain how the name “Golden Age” only refers to half of the story, and fails to include the stories, art, and history of people of color in the Netherlands, and during that time there were many. The “Golden Age” represents only a small percentage of the population, the wealthy, and museums are now working to exhibit new perspectives of all cultures during this time period. One exhibition that has caught much attention is “Dutch Masters Revisited” in which portraits of prominent Dutch citizens posed as now known people of color to have lived during the 17th and 18th centuries in the Netherlands. This exhibition, along with the changes in terms, names and more are just part of how museums in the Netherlands are working against systemic racism.

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