Does anyone believe that a Native American artist could not have been found to make a portrait of W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian - and for a much more reasonable price - and likely a far more creative portrait.
Besides - this fetish for portraits by Washingtonians - and others with a high opinion of myself - has always seem to me to be a big waste of money especially taxpayers dollars and in a time of economic troubles on the reservation and the rest of American.
The nearly $50,000 portrait could have fed a lot of people on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
I know that officials on the Rosebud Reservation have been begging the federal government for additional counselors in the wake of the teen suicide crisis - at last report 18 deaths and 500 attempts in past two years.
If you haven't heard about this controversy - here are a few sentences and links to the article and the unimaginative portrait.
The further thoughts on the wasteful spending at this Smithsonian museum that is suppose to respect Native American heritage, culture, ways and traditions.
Portrait Cost Indian Museum $48,500: Senators, Trustees Question Spending By Former Director
By James V. Grimaldi Washington Post Staff Writer
W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, spent $48,500 in museum funds to commission a portrait of himself. The portrait of West by New York artist Burton Silverman hangs in the patrons' lounge on the fourth floor of the flagship museum, which is dedicated to the arts and culture of American Indians.
Silverman said West picked him after he saw a portrait Silverman had done of former Smithsonian secretary Robert McCormick Adams. The Adams portrait, completed about a decade earlier, was smaller and cost about half as much.
Rest of the Washington Post story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010304163.html [1]
A nearly $50,000 portrait (above) by New York artist Burton Silverman was approved by the Smithsonian Institution after the museum could not find a Native American artist to do the artwork.
The portrait is of Native American W. Richard West Jr., founding director of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian.
With Native American teen suicide and poverty running rampant on South Dakota and other American Indian reservations, the Smithsonian officials felt the portrait and expensive junkets are a wise way to spend taxpayer money and donations.
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Native American on Native American crime - much like black on black crime - is especially insidious because so much good could have been done for First Nations peoples heritage with this wasted and misappropriated money.
It's also a crime against taxpayers and common decency.
Spending $48,500 on a self portrait is among the disgraceful financial crimes of W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
For this crime to occur in the hallowed halls of the Smithsonian shows again thievery (or at the very least extremely poor judgement) knows no class boundaries - and should be treated just as severely as the poor man who sticks a gun into the face of a 7-11 clerk.
The Smithsonian needs to be thoroughly audited from top to bottom as this is at least the second huge scandal to tarnish its once respected reputation.
No doubt it's only the tip of the fiduciary iceberg that's tearing through the Smithsonian's highbrow richly-protected hull. Extravagant travel expenses by Smithsonian executives including Mr. West have been questioned by the media.
I do volunteer work for several Native American related non-profits whose budgets are much smaller than even the cost of that disgraceful portrait.
How many children could have been fed on the Pine Ridge reservation with that nearly $50,000?
I personally know that officials at the Rosebud Reservation have been pleading with the federal government to fund more counselors in the wake of the teen suicide crisis - a problem that exists on many of America’s poorest American Indian reservations.
At last count, 18 Rosebud teens have died and about 500 attempted suicide just over the past two years - as the Smithsonian board of directors approves a $48,5000 portrait.
And the suggestion that it could not have been painted by an American Indian artist is as laughable as it is sickening with a hint of racism against one's own culture. It's absurd when the Smithsonian museum dedicated to Native American art - can't find an American Indian artist to paint a similar (but more hopefully creative) portrait - when they specialize in Native American artists.
Even the portrait stance is borrowed and unoriginal, as a buttoned-down Mr. West gazes thoughtfully off to the east, his coat hanging on a crooked forefinger and tossed over suspenders with his soft thumb and the remaining fingers forming the "OK" sign. That very stance has been used in portraits by many rich white guys.
The Washington ego commands that a portrait much be painted to prove one's importance. No doubt many law offices, banking institutions and the halls of officialdom are plastered with the self-aggrandizing crafty art.
Prior to the Polaroid, a self-portrait may have been necessary to preserve one's historic legacy but in today's world it's merely a measure of one's self-importance that is more often scoffed at than admired by those it's meant to impress. Perhaps, a modern definition of irony.
Maybe the next exhibit at the Smithsonian will be portraits of former executives doing the proverbial "perp" walk" - cuffed and stuffed for perp-etuity.
Links:
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010304163.html