Reform art management in the USA

[SB Wang]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_the_Great

"Catherine subscribed to the Enlightenment and considered herself a "philosopher on the throne". She showed great awareness of her image abroad, and ever desired that Europe should perceive her as a civilized and enlightened monarch, despite the fact that in Russia she often played the part of the tyrant. Even as she proclaimed her love for the ideals of liberty and freedom, she did more to tie the Russian Serf to his land and his lord than any sovereign since Boris Godunov.

Catherine had a reputation as a patron of the arts, literature and education. The Hermitage Museum, which now occupies the whole of the Winter Palace, began as Catherine's personal collection. At the instigation of her factotum, Ivan Betskoi, she wrote a manual for the education of young children, drawing from the ideas of John Locke, and founded the famous Smolny Institute for noble young ladies. This school would become one of the best of its kind in Europe, and even went so far as to admit young girls born to wealthy merchants alongside the daughters of the nobility. She wrote comedies, fiction and memoirs, while cultivating Voltaire, Diderot and D'Alembert

[Anthony Emmolo]

At first read, Sharon's thoughts seemed a bit strong for me, but then I realised as a moderator, she's got a different responsibility than many of us do. Living here in China, I see the difference between American, and values, and those of China and the old Soviet Union. When I was a young child, and even in high school, art class was get out the crayons, and draw your favorite pop star. Mine were The Beatles and Jim Morrison. Here in China, I see ten year old kids learning to draw sitting in front of plaster busts of Voltaire, and the host of his buddies that we would only see in quality academies in the USA.

I am now studying with these great busts, regretting that my parent didn't have enough interest in the arts when I was a child to put me in such a rich atmosphere. Then again, while all of my friends were watching the Flintsones, would I have wanted to study seriously? NO!

20/20 hindsight can be painful.

Anthony

[Michele Rushworth]

When I was a young child, and even in high school, art class was get out the crayons, and draw your favorite pop star. Mine were The Beatles and Jim Morrison. Here in China, I see ten year old kids learning to draw sitting in front of plaster busts of Voltaire, and the host of his buddies that we would only see in quality academies in the USA.

I think we're seeing where the future of portraiture and representational painting will be centered.

[SB Wang]

The lesson is not in setting a "Homeland Security" Dept., but that the proper person is not in the position: like Mao who was deprived his power until the Red Army's fate was in "critical condition".