Noticing And Not Noticing: "High Art" in D.C.

“Pearls Before Breakfast,” a piece by Gene Weingarten that appeared in the Washington Post Magazine nearly four years ago, is by far one of the most intriguing pieces of journalism I have ever stumbled upon. Those lucky enough to recognize the article above already know that is the story of the Post’s experiment pulled in the L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C.

The experiment plotted violin virtuoso Joshua Bell against the hordes of busy morning commuters. Stationing himself by an exit, Bell, a world-renowned violinist, played for 43 minutes and only received a pathetic $32.17 in tips. A single passer-by recognized him. Seven people stopped to listen.  seven people out of the incredible 1,070 people who passed by Bell that morning.

Weingarten set out to answer what would happen when the banal commute of D.C. workers were confronted with an ace classical violinist. Would they recognize the talent of the player and beauty of the music—or would they pass him by without a second glance?

The second option, of course, prevailed.

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While Weingarten’s article is written with astute theories and observations, the one cast by Mark Leithauser, senior curator at the National Gallery, speaks more to me than the others. (quoting Leithauser from the article)

“Let’s say I took one of our more abstract masterpieces, say an Ellsworth Kelly, and removed it from its frame, marched it down the 52 steps that people walk up to get to the National Gallery, past the giant columns, and brought it into a restaurant. It's a $5 million painting. And it’s one of those restaurants where there are pieces of original art for sale, by some industrious kids from the Corcoran School, and I hang that Kelly on the wall with a price tag of $150. No one is going to notice it. An art curator might look up and say: ‘Hey, that looks a little like an Ellsworth Kelly. Please pass the salt.’”

Leithauser’s notice of context fits nicely with how I feel about so much of the art world. However flawed the notion of “high art” or “cultured art” may be, there is certainly a point to be made about the context.

French artist Marcel Duchamp’s series of “readymades” points to this phenomenon—when and how do we know something is art? The context matters. Some of Duchamp’s “readymades” even went unnoticed at juried art shows. But take Duchamp’s “Bottle Rack” outside of an art gallery and it’s just a bottle rack. Take Joshua Bell out of Carnegie Hall and he’s just another nameless street performer. I’m fearful to admit that I may not have given Bell a second look…he might have seemed only another expected fixture of a daily commute.

Link to the article here and above.