Comments on: Museum Director Laurie Norton Moffatt Cultural Delegate to Russia http://www.nrm.org/2009/12/museum-director-laurie-norton-moffatt-cultural-delegate-to-russia/ The Home for American Illustration. Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:34:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: john brown http://www.nrm.org/2009/12/museum-director-laurie-norton-moffatt-cultural-delegate-to-russia/comment-page-1/#comment-68 john brown Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:36:26 +0000 http://www.nrm.org/?p=3023#comment-68 Dear Ms. Moffatt, Thank you for your prompt reply. I will be as brief as possible, given your busy schedule in Moscow. To reinvigorate U.S.- Russian cultural relations, we -- Americans and Russians -- need something "controversial," that will lead to disagreements, discussions, to "hot potatoes." (Not to speak of real press coverage). A Rockwell/Socialist Realism exhibit in Las Vegas, in my modest opinion, can do this. Best, John PS. Give my best to Mr. Svydkoi, whom I had the pleasure to meet on several occasions in Moscow and whose command of the American language I much admired. I mention him in my lecture, "Re-Inventing Onself in America," where I talk about the Hermitage show in Las Vegas that he had much to do with -- he was instrumental, in his own way, of bringing old-world "high culture" to America's "sin city." PSS. As it seems that in answering your kind note I cannot provide you in this format with links re my efforts to understand propaganda, just Google my name and propaganda. Also, my course at GU is "Propaganda and US Foreign Policy: A Historical Overview." Dear Ms. Moffatt,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I will be as brief as possible, given your busy schedule in Moscow.

To reinvigorate U.S.- Russian cultural relations, we — Americans and Russians — need something “controversial,” that will lead to disagreements, discussions, to “hot potatoes.” (Not to speak of real press coverage).

A Rockwell/Socialist Realism exhibit in Las Vegas, in my modest opinion, can do this.

Best,

John

PS. Give my best to Mr. Svydkoi, whom I had the pleasure to meet on several occasions in Moscow and whose command of the American language I much admired. I mention him in my lecture, “Re-Inventing Onself in America,” where I talk about the Hermitage show in Las Vegas that he had much to do with — he was instrumental, in his own way, of bringing old-world “high culture” to America’s “sin city.”

PSS. As it seems that in answering your kind note I cannot provide you in this format with links re my efforts to understand propaganda, just Google my name and propaganda. Also, my course at GU is “Propaganda and US Foreign Policy: A Historical Overview.”

]]> By: john brown http://www.nrm.org/2009/12/museum-director-laurie-norton-moffatt-cultural-delegate-to-russia/comment-page-1/#comment-62 john brown Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:58:20 +0000 http://www.nrm.org/?p=3023#comment-62 Dear Ms. Moffatt, During your stay in Russia could you perhaps consider raising the possibility of organizing a joint U.S.-Russian exhibit comparing the works of Norman Rockwell with those of Socialist Realist artists. I found great interest for such a project among my Russian friends and contacts (I served as Cultural Affairs Officer at US Embassy Moscow from 1998 to 2001), as well as among Americans interested in Russia. For an interesting account of the Rockwell/Socialist Realism issue, see Tomas Pospiszyl, "Socialist Evening Realistic Post" at http://www.artmargins.com/index.php/archive/242-socialist-evening-realistic-post. The author writes: "It does not take an experienced connoisseur to notice the uncanny similarity between the widely popular art of Norman Rockwell and certain artworks of Socialist realism." The contentiousness of such a viewpoint is what would make a Rockwell/Socialist Realism exhibit so fascinating. May I note that my preferred venue for the exhibit would be Las Vegas. Sincerely, John Brown Georgetown University PS: My blog on public diplomacy is at http://publicdiplomacypressandblogreview.blogspot.com/ Dear Ms. Moffatt,

During your stay in Russia could you perhaps consider raising the possibility of organizing a joint U.S.-Russian exhibit comparing the works of Norman Rockwell with those of Socialist Realist artists. I found great interest for such a project among my Russian friends and contacts (I served as Cultural Affairs Officer at US Embassy Moscow from 1998 to 2001), as well as among Americans interested in Russia.

For an interesting account of the Rockwell/Socialist Realism issue, see Tomas Pospiszyl, “Socialist Evening Realistic Post” at
http://www.artmargins.com/index.php/archive/242-socialist-evening-realistic-post. The author writes: “It does not take an experienced connoisseur to notice the uncanny similarity between the widely popular art of Norman Rockwell and certain artworks of Socialist realism.” The contentiousness of such a viewpoint is what would make a Rockwell/Socialist Realism exhibit so fascinating.

May I note that my preferred venue for the exhibit would be Las Vegas.

Sincerely,

John Brown
Georgetown University

PS: My blog on public diplomacy is at
http://publicdiplomacypressandblogreview.blogspot.com/

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