When it comes to the museum world these days, we have found it prudent to adopt the policy advocated by George Orwell with respect to saints (especially those proposing themselves for sainthood). They should, Orwell wrote, be considered guilty until proven innocent. Orwell enunciated his policy at the beginning of his essay on Mahatma Gandhi, a suitably dubious candidate for sainthood. We advocate a similar attitude when encountering any proposal to expand a museum. Extra vigilance is in order whenever you discover that 1) a new museum is being proposed or 2) the phrases “performance art,” “contemporary arts center,” or “diversity” occur in the press material for the proposed project.

We were given a vivid reminder of the soundness of extending Orwell’s policy about saints when we read about the Brooklyn Museum’s $63 million “face lift and modernization” in ...

This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchase