[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TangWingforAmericanDemocracy-76thStreet.jpg?w=1000″]<\/p>\n
\n\tLess than two months after opening its $175 million Tang Wing for American Democracy, the New York Historical has replaced 17 objects in its inaugural exhibition with reproductions. Another three objects have been removed entirely.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe problem is natural light, reportedly. The new wing\u2019s main exhibition gallery has large windows that flood the space with sunlight, but some of the objects selected for \u201cDemocracy Matters,\u201d which opened June 18, are light-sensitive and could be damaged by overexposure, according to the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>.\u00a0Museum officials initially lowered blackout shades over the windows, which solved the conservation problem but created another one. Louise Mirrer, the museum\u2019s director, felt the shades compromised architect Robert A.M. Stern\u2019s vision for the space and ordered them raised again.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI felt it was disrespectful of the architect\u2019s final museum project,\u201d Mirrer told the\u00a0Times<\/em>. \u201cWe had to find a means that could accommodate both the architecture and the exhibition narrative \u2014 which we did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe solution was to swap out the vulnerable objects. Seventeen were replaced with reproductions or facsimiles, while three were taken off view.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSome swaps were easier to spot than others. Reproductions of Norman Rockwell\u2019s 1943 \u201cBuy War Bonds\u201d posters look remarkably similar to the originals, according to the\u00a0Times<\/em>, while the late Betye Saar\u2019s\u00a0Extreme Times Call for Extreme Heroines<\/em> presented more of a problem.<\/p>\n \n\tThe three-dimensional assemblage, made from a clock, washboard, and figure, was replaced with a digital photograph. After the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0began asking questions about the reproductions, the museum decided to remove the photograph as well, saying it did not adequately represent Saar\u2019s work.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAlso disappeared was the hand-lettered gown that former New York congresswoman Carolyn Maloney wore to the 2021 Met Gala to call for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. A mannequin covered in crocheted pink camouflage by the artist Olek, commemorating the 2017 Women\u2019s March, was taken down too.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe last-minute changes have frustrated some former museum staffers, who say the potential conflict between the windows and the exhibition was known well before the show opened.<\/p>\n \n\tGerhard Schlanzky, who worked at the New York Historical for 19 years before stepping down as creative director and director of exhibitions last month, said the assumption during planning was that the windows would be covered.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe dialogue was always that if we were going to do an exhibition in that space, the windows had to be covered,\u201d Schlanzky told the\u00a0Times<\/em>. \u201cWe never would have proposed light-sensitive objects if we knew the shades would be up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMirrer said that she hadn\u2019t paid enough attention to the light issue beforehand. She said she had been occupied with fundraising for the $175 million expansion and was focused on realizing Stern\u2019s vision of a \u201csoaring, sweeping space that would invite the city in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe show\u2019s curator, Wendy Nalani E. Ikemoto, also distanced herself from the decision. Ikemoto, who left the museum last month, said she had \u201cno involvement in or advance knowledge of\u201d the choice to raise the shades and replace the vulnerable objects. She added that she had documentation showing the decision was made after her departure.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe episode leaves the museum with an awkward trade-off: preserve the objects, preserve the architecture, or find a way to do both. For Schlanzky, at least, reproductions aren\u2019t much of a solution.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou come to see real things,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise people might just view them on their devices at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/new-york-historical-artworks-reproductions-sunlight-1234794416\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TangWingforAmericanDemocracy-76thStreet.jpg?w=1000″] Less than two months after opening its $175 million Tang Wing for American Democracy, the New York Historical has replaced 17 objects in its inaugural exhibition with reproductions. Another three objects have been removed entirely. The problem is natural light, reportedly. The new wing\u2019s main exhibition gallery has large windows that flood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2083362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2083362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2083362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2083362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2083362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}