The UN collection

From today's NY Times:

A handful of works in the United Nations collection are considered to be of the highest artistic quality or of historical significance. There is Barbara Hepworth's "Single Form," the 21-foot bronze slab that stands in front of the Secretariat building, and the well-known stained-glass window by Marc Chagall. There is the Matisse collage, the Crucifixion painting by Rouault, and the pair of abstract Léger murals, in the General Assembly Hall. There is the 3,000-year-old Incan burial mantle, presented by Peru, and an amphora dated 600 B.C.

But there is also a garish, 3-foot- golden palm tree encrusted with pearls. Beside it stands a gilded sculpture of a dodo. There are landscapes in carved ivory. Steel drums. A sculpture of an outsized pistol with its barrel tied in a knot.

As a collector and custodian of art, the United Nations occupies a unique, and uniquely awkward, position. Since much of its authority rests on the sovereign equality of its member nations, it cannot comfortably refuse a gift from any of them.

The objects on display are therefore of wildly uneven quality and provenance, and cannot be easily organized in terms of medium, period, style, subject, technique or geographical origin. It is a kaleidoscopic, but not overly coherent, collection.

Posted by David on March 31, 2004 3:20 PM