Civil Liberties Union Sues National Endowment for the Arts, San Fran Museums Weighing Up Layoffs, Ricardo Scofidio Dies: Morning Links for March 07, 2025

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The Headlines

ACLU SUES NEA OVER GENDER CLAUSE. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sued the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), claiming that its new policy requiring that its funding applicants do not “promote gender ideology” will limit what kinds of works can be shown, reports Alex Greenberger for ARTnews. On Thursday, the ACLU’s Rhode Island offshoot filed a lawsuit on behalf of several theaters, which said that the policy adopted after President Donald Trump’s January executive order was an “unlawful and unconstitutional exercise of executive power that has sowed chaos in the funding of arts projects across the United States.” While the lawsuit mostly refers to theatrical productions, as we learned in yesterday’s Breakfast Newsletter, any person or institution seeking funding for arts via the NEA is affected.

SF MUSEUMS FACE PAINFUL BUDGET CUTS. Museums in San Francisco are getting hit hard by the city’s budget cuts and may have to reduce opening hours and cut jobs, reports The San Francisco Chronicle. Faced with a financial crisis and the city’s 15 percent reduction in general fund allocations, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), which oversees the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor, proposed a host of cost-cutting measures in a plan submitted nearly two weeks ago to the mayor’s office for consideration. It outlines the cost-cutting benefits of slashing nearly a quarter of its city-funded workers, 23 positions out of 99, which mostly affects security jobs, while also impacting other human resources and museum operating jobs. Notably, it calculates the savings from closing the de Young and Legion of Honor museums on Tuesdays, in addition to the current Monday closure. However, shuttering on Tuesdays could also mean a drop in annual visitors, tourism, and economic growth, warns the FAMSF. “It is our understanding that the mayor’s office does not want to see a reduction of operating hours at the de Young and Legion of Honor, and we are working closely with the mayor’s budget office to analyze the proposal and look for other cost reduction opportunities,” said Helena Nordstrom, director of communications for FAMSF. Other San Francisco museums will be directly impacted by the budget cuts, including the Asian Art Museum, which is bracing to lose 13 security positions, despite warning, “it would be unsafe to operate the museum with this level of security coverage.”

The Digest

Researchers at English Heritage believe they have identified the only portrait of Lady Jane Grey made while she was alive, before her infamous 1554 execution. Known as the “nine-day queen,” she ruled over England for just that amount of time in 1553. Now, “compelling evidence,” including tree-ring dating and markings on the painted panel, which was apparently altered over the years, means, “it is possible that we are looking at the shadows of a once more royal portrait of Lady Jane Gray, toned down into subdued, Protestant martyrdom after her death,” said Rachel Turnbull, English Heritage’s senior collections conservator. [The Guardian]

Architect Ricardo Scofidio, who designed New York City’s High Line and The Shed, among many high-profile cultural structures in New York and abroad, has died at the age of 89. He led studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro with his partner Elizabeth Diller, and architect Charles Renfro. [Dezeen]

Whitney Museum associate director of curatorial programs, Adrienne Edwards, discusses her boundary-breaking process for exhibition making, as well as critics of the most recent Whitney Biennial, seen as a “backlash against identity.” “American culture is very much about linear notions of progress, and I just don’t think time works that way … We come back around to times that have never left,” she said. [Cultured Magazine]

A newly restituted Egon Schiele drawing looted by the Nazis from Austrian Jewish performer Fritz Grünbaum, was sold for $4.2 million at Christie’s in London, surpassing expectations. [Artnet News]

Small, engraved stones from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will be raffled to the public to raise funds for French, religious heritage monuments. The roughly 50 stones weighing about 800 grams and engraved with the cathedral’s façade, were too damaged to be used in the building’s reconstruction following a 2019 fire. A donation of 40 euros, or $43 is required to enter, and winners will be announced on April 15, the anniversary of the fire. [DPA]

The Kicker

THE BACON CONNECTION. Writing for The New York Times, Alex Marshall tells the curious story of his encounter with a certain Barry Joule, who claims to have a trove of sketches and paintings given to him by Francis Bacon not long before his death. Joule helped the artist with odd jobs, and the two became friends. While the latter appears true – there are photos of them over the years — the authenticity and credibility of the artworks is up for fierce debate. The artist’s estate, for one, vehemently denies they should be taken seriously, but this is not before first apparently almost begging Joule in the late 90’s to hand them over, and “become part of the Bacon family.” A few months later, however, they demanded he give them everything or face legal action. He did neither, and today some museums, like the Pompidou, still show occasional interest. What ultimately seems far more intriguing and indisputable is that Joule has tape recordings of conversations with Bacon about a range of topics. The Canadian former handyman “with a rock-star mane” told the NYT he planned to “drip feed excerpts to friendly reporters for the rest of his life,” per Marshall’s paraphrasing.