It should come as no surprise that the founding of the Art Commission of the City of New York (ACNY) was inspired in part by the concerns of an Anglo-Protestant majority as it faced an increasingly diverse ethnic influx. Formed in 1898 initially around the issue of public memorials – certainly not something the civic elite wanted left in the hands of an uneducated alien population – the ACNY quickly began to evaluate and issue recommendations on all public structures, from letter boxes and street lights to ferry terminals and courthouses. Likewise its mission rapidly expanded to encompass not merely the appearance of the city landscape but the expression of history and memory and the nature of municipal identity. The ACNY sought to advance a system of municipal art, architecture and miscellaneous structures that would unify the city and promote assimilation, Americanization and cultural uplift. No easy task.
In her fascinating examination of the ACNY, Michele Bogart, a former vice-president of the commission, has captured the good intentions and commitment of the body that sought, as she puts it, ‘to find an appropriate balance among public welfare and quality of life, special interests, and aesthetics’. Bogart begins with a history of the ACNY, the vision of its early leaders including Robert DeForest who for 25 years used negotiation and compromise to consolidate the ACNY's reputation and power, and the contentious projects – such as the Heinrich Heine Memorial, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Monument and the Bronx County Courthouse – on which the commission cut its teeth. Moving deftly through material that could easily have become mind-numbing, Bogart keeps the story fresh and intriguing with detailed yet lively accounts of colourful disputes and political manoeuvrings. As she works her way through the mid-twentieth century, Bogart recounts the highlights of the 1930s Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) designs, including simply bad art, potentially offensive installations and the Rikers Island Penitentiary murals debacle.
As agencies and municipal departments strengthened in the second half of the century, the ACNY's voice and authority began to weaken. By the mid-1960s, the commission found itself in a ‘no-win situation’, buffeted by political strife, conflicting constituencies and, eventually, powerful mayors such as Koch, Giuliani and Bloomberg, each of whom have their own ideas about public art. Bogart is particularly sharp in her assessment of the Giuliani administration's intimidation tactics and official disdain for the ACNY. Today the ACNY perseveres despite ‘animal art’, ‘distinctive sidewalks’, memorials that have become more ‘therapeutic’ than monumental, and the privatization of civic spaces as individuals and businesses attempt to co-opt public areas for personal use. More than a century ago the mission of the ACNY was to manage the city's built environment. This volume argues that New York continues to need a transcendent vision that does not stoop to special interests, current fashion or whimsy. In telling the story of the ACNY, this book makes an important contribution to our understanding of urban history and design.
