It wasn’t my intention to do another one of these quite so soon after the first, but since I recently mentioned my one-time college career at the State University of New York College at Purchase, it seems useful to return there.
What follows is the text of an article by Royston Wood which appeared in the March 15, 1990, edition of some newspaper in Westchester County, New York. I’d specify which one, but neither the photocopy of this article nor the original section from the paper itself seems to indicate just which publication it was.
Precisely one month after the publication of this article, one on the same topic was published in the regional Westchester-only section of The New York Times, which at some point in the future may show up here as well.
The big question on campus right now is that if you use a $100,000 bronze sculpture as a percussion instrument, are you getting too much bang for the buck?
This question is buzzing around the 16,000-pound, Henry Moore bronze sculpture “Large Two Forms,” which dominates the mall at the State University of New York College at Purchase campus.
The discussion started pianissimo after an impromptu percussion concert using the sculpture on Jan. 27 was broken up by a student in his role as campus center manager.
It reached fortissimo last night when a gathering of about 30 students conducted a more formal drumming party at which “Large Two Forms” was the solo instrument.
Using percussion mallets and improvised drumsticks, and with accompanying pots and pans and a small drum, the students drummed on the sculpture and danced around it. One woman dressed in flowing drapes performed an extemporaneous ballet while a fellow in dreadlocks, dark glasses and a beaded gown threw huge bubbles in the air using a 9-inch bubble hoop.
The event began at 8 p.m. Initially, no one attempted to stop the demonstration, though a state trooper stood quietly at a distance. After about an hour, however, two members of the campus staff asked the students to quiet down and the group complied.
Student Kit Frankonis went out the evening of Jan. 27 with his roommates, two music students, to play whatever there was around: walls, railings, anything. It was to be a sort of “found music” event.
“When we got to the mall, there was the Moore. We played it for about 10 minutes when the campus center manager approached and told us to ‘cease and desist.’ He really said that. We didn’t say anything, but just walked away.”
Frankonis wrote a letter or protest to the campus newspaper, The Load, sparking a public discussion involving anthropology Professor John Forrest and Dominique Nahas, director of the Neuberger Museum on the campus. The museum is the nominal owner of the sculpture.
In the letter, which appeared in the Feb. 7 issue of The Load, Frankonis mentioned a discussion in one of Forrest’s classes in which Forrest expressed sympathy with Frankonis’ complaint.
“The question this poses is about the uses of art,” said Forrest. “One of the ways people have of looking at art these days is as a capital investment, and the attitude is that such investment much be protected. I think art should be used.
“And sometimes when you use art, you use it up.”
Nahas said he understood this.
“I’m perfectly aware that this piece in particular is there to be used,” he said. “But I’m protective of it. As a museum director and a past curator I have a conservationist approach to art.”
Because the museum owns the piece, the ultimate owner is New York state.
“Where do freedoms and rights end in order to protect an artistic treasure?” asked Nahas.
He said he talked with Frankonis and Forrest about the issue.
Frankonis was using wrapped percussion mallets.
“I can’t say that wasn’t suitable,” said Nahas. “I’d probably be thrilled to hear it. But suppose it encourages someone to express themselves with a two-by-four?”
Nahas said he would install on campus a mobile, after the style of sculptor Alexander Calder, created to be used as an instrument. Calder created several such pieces.
Will the question be answered after last night’s “percussion-in”? Nahas does not want to frame a policy for such things.
Forrest is philosophical.
“They treat (the sculpture) with reverence, but not reserve. That is how it has always been. It’s part of campus life,” said Forrest.
The consensus of most students who took part in last night’s event was that it had demonstrated the validity of using at for purposes possibly not envisioned by the artist.
“In the matter of the uses of art, and the artists’ intentions for its use, consensus usually wins,” Nahas said, adding that his comments were meant to add his two cents’ worth to the consensus.
Henry Moore, who lived from 1898 to 1986, was a world-renowned sculptor whose works were mostly monumental, bulbous abstracts or abstracted figures. He virtually donated the work in question to SUNY, since the $100,000 paid to him be benefactor Roy Neuberger was mostly used to pay for casting the huge work in West Berlin.
Moore publicly stated that he favored his works being used in a social way, according to Forrest and Nahas.
Nahas said he does not know how well the skin of the sculpture will withstand percussion concerts.
“It’s my job to care for it, even to worry about it, and hope that people will follow a moderate path in their treatment of it,” Nahas said.
