Did the Butler miss a bet?
We must be as clear about good as evil
The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown became the object of controversy a few days ago when it’s governing board canceled a deal with the Boy Scouts of America to display a group of Norman Rockwell paintings related to scouting and owned by the Scouts.
As with so many controversies these days, many people rushed to judgment without knowing all the facts or with incorrect information.
The Scouts were not offering to give the paintings to the museum, only to loan them for a time.
And the museum did not cancel the deal, it only decided to put it off. The paintings are now in Irving, Texas, because that is where the headquarters for the Scouts is. They must be shipped to Youngstown, which is a specialized and expensive process. If the Scouts go bankrupt because of lawsuits over sex abuse cases (a real possibility), the paintings might have to be sold and that would mean shipping them back to Texas, where they are currently in storage and no one is seeing them.
The point of contention was that one member of the Butler board, attorney Ned Gold, has said the decision was driven primarily by fear — the fear that people would associate the paintings with those who have tainted scouting.
Here’s the truth: The scouting movement is a wonderful thing. It has saved the lives of many young boys and men by giving them a code of conduct, certain practical skills and a place in a long and uplifting fraternal brotherhood. What some individuals did to young men in scouting, to steal their youth, is beyond vile and reprehensible. And for scouting, what these persons did is nothing less than tragic.
Sexual predators in scouting, like sexual predators in churches and in schools, deserve the most severe punishment legally possible. They have not only used their authority for abuse, but they have misused something fine and noble for advantage and cover-up.
But this discredits not what is fine and noble. The values of scouting are no less sound because some perverts turned those values upside down.
Second, Norman Rockwell is a great and still under-appreciated American painter. His Scout paintings should be displayed — somewhere.
The Butler specializes in American art.
The Butler should re-think its decision and look for a way to acquire the paintings without liability, perhaps on a temporary basis, but preferably on a permanent one.
We ought to be clear about what is good and beautiful, as well as what is evil. Those who prey upon children, especially in the uniforms of Scoutmasters, are evil. But the ideals of scouting are humane and decent. And Rockwell’s celebration of those ideals is something of value — art that should be curated and seen.