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Presentation of National Medal of the Arts Awards 11/17/89 [OA 3540]
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Presentation of National Medal of the Arts Awards 11/17/89 [OA 3540]
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Presentation of National Medal of the Arts Awards 11/17/89 [OA 3540]
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26
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7
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
November 17, 1989
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
DURING PRESENTATION OF
NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS AWARDS
The East Room
12:12 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse the delay. We've been out there
trying to calm the national turkey, which has all worked out very
well. (Laughter.) No double entendres around here about that,
either. (Laughter.)
Thank you -- all of you -- for being here today for the
fifth annual presentation of the National Medal of the Arts. It is a
great pleasure and an honor for Barbara and me to welcome you to the
White House. I just want to thank the National Council on the Arts
-- the Committee on the Arts and Humanities, as well as John
Frohnmayer, our new and distinguished chairman of the NEA, and of
course, Hugh Southern, for the support and encouragement of America's
cultural life.
Dante once wrote that "Art imitates nature as well as it
can, as a pupil follows his master; and thus it is a sort of
grandchild of God." Well as this, "grandchild of God," art embraces
our values in history, gives meaning to our existence and illuminates
the basic human truths which give us purpose. In a way, art defines
our civilization.
But in another more personal way, art opens entire new
worlds for each of us, letting us see and hear and even feel life
through the mind of someone else -- from new perspectives. And
instead of seeing a single world, we can see as many worlds as there
are artists and writers, dancers and musicians.
The diversity of art in this nation is truly a product of
the diversity of our democracy. The American arts, like a
many-faceted mirror, have been a colorful reflection of this nation's
history. The music of the frontier led to the blues of the bayou,
and the swing bands of the cities. The primitivism of the early
painters gave way to the romanticism of the Hudson River school and
later, American impressionism and abstract expressionism. In
architecture, Americans see everything from the Federal style to
post-modernism. Modern photography and filmmaking have their roots
in the tintypes of the Civil War era. And from our earliest writings
to this week's best seller list, we've seen American poetry, novels,
short stories earn a unique place in the literature of the entire
world. Cities like New York and Los Angeles have become art capitals
of international importance, and regional orchestras, museums, dance
troupes and opera companies have enjoyed spectacular successes.
We need to make this great diversity of art more a part
of the lives of all Americans. And we need to begin this effort in
our schools so that our young people will have a sense of their
heritage and the creativity of the present. We need to make special
efforts to reach out to those who do not regularly participate. The
work of the National Endowment is especially important in these
areas.
MORE
- 2 -
Today, we honor a group of men and women whose creative
ideas, talent and passion have added so much to the rich tapestry
that is our Nation's cultural heritage. Their work is not just of
the mind, but of the heart and of the soul. And some have challenged
us, some have amazed us. And some have brought remarkable beauty of
sight and sound to us. But all have helped us to thank and to dream
and to understand ourselves and our world a little better.
Today, we honor Alfred Eisenstaedt for his photography,
Dizzy Gillespie for his jazz innovations, John Updike for his prose.
Katherine Dunham for her dance and choreography, Walker Hancock for
his sculpture, Czeslaw Milosz for his poetry, Robert Motherwell for
his paintings, and Leopold Adler for his historic preservation. And
we honor someone whose great talent and energy will live on, long
after the sounds of his music has faded -- and that is the late
Vladimir Horowitz.
And we honor the patrons of the arts -- those who
understand that without the artistic creativity of its people, no
nation can be whole -- and those whose dedication, energy and
commitment have sustained that creativity over the years. We honor
Martin Friedman of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Leigh
Gerdine of Webster University in St. Louis, and the Dayton Hudson
Corporation.
And now, I will ask John Frohnmayer if he will read the
citations for the National Medal of the Arts to our recipients.
John, all yours.
MR. FROHNMAYER: Thank you, Mr. President.
Leopold Adler, II is a nationally recognized expert in
historic preservation, one who has changed the face of his hometown,
Savannah, Georgia. He was the driving force behind two remarkable
revitalization experiments: one refurbished the historic section of
Savannah; and the other renovated low-income housing in the Victorian
district. Mr. Adler has also served as a trustee for almost a decade
for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (Applause.)
The citation reads: To Leopold Adler for his civic
leadership in preserving for all time the beauty of Savannah,
Georgia, and for making that city a model of the art of historic
preservation.
Katherine Dunham is an outstanding dancer and
choreographer. The Dunham Company, the first black professional
dance company in America, performed throughout the world from 1938
through 1963, presenting the dance, music and folklore of Third World
countries and the United States. For over 30 years, Ms. Dunham has
maintained the only permanently self-subsidized dance troupe in
America. She also founded the Dunham School of Arts and Research in
New York city. (Applause.)
The citation reads: To Katherine Dunham for her
pioneering explorations of Caribbean and African dance, which have
enriched and transformed the art of dance in America.
Alfred Eisenstaedt is the quintesssential photojournalist
who pioneered the introduction of the candid camera technique into
news reporting. After emigrating from West Prussia in 1935, he
joined the original photography staff of the new magazine "Life."
Mr. Eisenstaedt's most famous photo is that of a sailor kissing a
nurse in Time Square at the end of World War II. As a photographer,
he has won almost every major national professional award.
The award is received by his long-time friend and photo
editor, Bobbie Baker Burrows. (Applause.)
The citation reads: To Alfred Eisenstaedt for the
MORE
- 3 -
extraordinary photographs that document the tragedies and triumphs he
has witnessed over a lifetime. (Applause.)
John Berks "Dizzy" Gillespie is a virtuoso musician,
pioneer, composer and bandleader who has been a pivotal figure in
20th century American music. The founder of the jazz "bebop"
movement, he developed a radical new approach to improvisation that
was to change the course of modern music-making. For more than 40
years he has explored the varied music of different cultures. Mr.
Gillespie has performed before countless world leaders and has won
numberous awards. Dizzy Gillespie. (Applause.)
The citation to John Berks "Dizzy" Gillespie for his
trailblazing work as a musician who helped elevate jazz to an art
form of the first rank and for sharing his gift with listeners around
the world." (Applause.)
Walker Kirtland Hancock is a renowned sculptor whose work
spans a period of 70 years. He began by sculpting the bust of an
orphan and was awarded a Prix de Rome while still an apprentice. He
has spent a lifetime sculpting over 268 pieces, many of them
portraits, busts, monuments and medals in the heroic Reaissance style
of Florence. Mr. Hancock has sculpted busts of American heroes and
presidents. He has said that just as the ancient Greeks did in their
sculpture, celebrating heroes is still one of the worthy functions of
sculpture today. Walker Hancock. (Applause.)
The citation, "To Walker Hancock for his extraordinary
contribution to the art of sculpture and for demonstrating the
enduring beauty of the classical tradition." (Applause.)
Vladimir Horowitz was a consummate piantist and a genius
who was known for the controlled thunder and the electricity of his
performances. Appropriately, Mr. Horowitz's first home was on Music
Street in Kiev. He left the Soviet Union as a musical sensation in
1925 to play in Berlin, Paris and, ultimately, in America at Carnegie
Hall. He returned to Carnegie Hall 25 years later at the height of
his popularity and returned to play in the Soviet Union in 1986.
Vladimir Horowitz's music had a colorful blazing quality and
technical excellence -- truly, he was a man with no equals. The
award will be delivered to Madame Horowitz upon her return from
Italy, and the citation reads: To Vladimir Horowitz for his
extraordinary achievements and distinctive style as a pianist whose
concerts brought pleasure to audiences everywhere and whose
contributions to music made him a citizen of the world. (applause)
Czeslaw Milosz is a poet and educator, whom Joseph
Brodsky called "One of the greatest poets of our time, perhaps the
greatest." Mr. Milosz was born in Lithuania in 1911, and became a
naturalized citizen of the United States in 1970. As one of the
leaders in the avant-garde poetry movement in Poland during the
1930's, he edited an anti-Nazi anthology called "Invincible Song."
Mr. Milosz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980, for his poetry
on life in this century. Czeslaw Milosz. (Applause.) The citation
to Czeslaw Milosz for glorious poetry and prose that celebrates the
freedom-loving spirit, not only of his native Poland, but that of his
adopted country, the United States. (Applause.)
Robert Motherwell is an artist of global stature.
Reknown as one of the founders of the American Abstract Expressionism
school, the first American art movement to receive recognition
internationally as being on the leading edge of world art. He is
best known for a series of monumental paintings on the "Spanish
Eulogy" theme, for abstract paintings in the open series, and as a
master of collage. He has received a multitude of honors in five
decades of a very distinguished career. Robert Motherwell.
(Applause.) The citation to Robert Motherwell for reflecting in his
art the very essence of American Freedom with paintings that have
found a distinguished place in collections everywhere. (Applause.)
MORE
- 4 -
John Updike is the author of over 30 books of poetry,
novels, short stories and essays. Mr. Updike is one of the best
chroniclers of American small town life in literature. He began as a
writer for the New Yorker magazine and then authored the novels, The
Poorhouse Fair, Rabbit, Run, and among many others, The Centaur and
the Witches of Eastwick. Among many other awards, in 1982 Mr.
Updike received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Rabbit is Rich.
John Updike. (Applause.)
The citation reads: To John Updike, for novels and
stories that, over a 40-year career, have given us a wryly
affectionate, yet penetrating analysis of the complexity of life in
today's America. (Applause.)
Martin Friedman is one of our Nation's most innovative
and scholarly museum directors. Mr. Friedman has served as Director
of the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis since 1961, making it into
one of the premiere small museums in this country, in exhibitions as
well as in the performing arts. In addition to his activism in the
arts community, he has written extensively on contemporary art and
recently, helped create the new Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
(Applause.) The citation -- to Martin Friedman for opening the doors
of his museum to the best of all of the arts in our time -- from
painting and sculpture to film, video and performance -- and for
opening our eyes to the vital connections between these forms of
expression.
Leigh Gerdine is an outstanding civic leader who has
paved the way for development of every major cultural institution in
St. Louis. Mr. Gerdine is a 40-year resident of that city, and for
18 years has been President of Webster University. He has been
deeply involved in the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Louis Repertory
Company, and was founding Chairman of the St. Louis Opera Theater,
now one of the most widely-acclaimed companies in the country.
Mr. Gerdine. (Applause.)
The citation to Leigh Gerdine for his distinguished
career as a musician and educator, and for the enlightened patronage
which has earned him the title of "spiritual father of the arts in
St. Louis.' (Applause.)
Dayton Hudson Corporation has been a leader in corporate
giving for 43 years. Since 1980, the corporation has contributed
nearly $70 million to arts programs in the United States. Dayton
Hudson has targeted support to programs that, on a long-term basis,
make a community a more vital place in which to live.
During 1988 alone, Dayton Hudson generously awarded $7.4
million to 580 arts programs in 37 states and the District of
Columbia. Accepting is Mr. Kenneth Macke, CEO of Dayton Hudson
Corporation. (Applause.) The citation to Dayton Hudson Corporation
for helping to forge a vital partnership between the corporate sector
and the arts community and for demonstrating how both can benefit in
the process. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me just say in conclusion
first, thank you, John Frohnmayer, and to all of you recipients,
congratulations for your achievements, for the passion you bring to
the arts. You have honored this country. Your nation is grateful to
you. And congratulations to all of you. Barbara and I are just
thrilled that you're here at the White House. And now, I'd like all
of our Medal winners to join us up here for just a minute, if we
could, for one quick -- what they call in the trade -- a photo op.
(Laughter.) Please.
END
12:34 P.M. EST
File
NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS / EAST ROOM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1989 / 12:00 NOON
THANK YOU, ALL OF YOU, FOR BEING HERE TODAY FOR THE
FIFTH ANNUAL PRESENTATION OF THE NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE
ARTS. IT'S A GREAT PLEASURE AND AN HONOR FOR BARBARA
AND ME To WELCOME YOU TO THE WHITE HOUSE.
- 2 -
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE ARTS,
THE COMMITTEE ON THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES, AS WELL AS
JOHN FROHNMAYER, [FRONE-MY-ER] OUR NEW AND
DISTINGUISHED CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR
THE ARTS, AND, OF COURSE, HUGH SOUTHERN, FOR THE
SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF AMERICA'S CULTURAL LIFE.
DANTE ONCE WROTE THAT "ART IMITATES NATURE AS WELL
AS IT CAN, AS A PUPIL FOLLOWS HIS MASTER; THUS IT IS A
SORT OF GRANDCHILD OF GOD."
- 3 -
As THIS "GRANDCHILD OF GOD,' ART EMBRACES OUR VALUES
AND HISTORY, GIVES MEANING TO OUR EXISTENCE AND
ILLUMINATES THE BASIC HUMAN TRUTHS WHICH GIVE US
PURPOSE. IN A WAY, ART DEFINES OUR CIVILIZATION.
BUT IN ANOTHER, MORE PERSONAL WAY, ART OPENS ENTIRE
NEW WORLDS FOR EACH OF US, LETTING US SEE AND HEAR AND
EVEN FEEL LIFE THROUGH THE MIND OF SOMEONE ELSE -- FROM
NEW PERSPECTIVES.
- 4 -
INSTEAD OF SEEING A SINGLE WORLD, WE CAN SEE AS MANY
WORLDS AS THERE ARE ARTISTS AND WRITERS, DANCERS AND
MUSICIANS.
THE DIVERSITY OF ART IN THIS NATION IS TRULY A
PRODUCT OF THE DIVERSITY OF OUR DEMOCRACY. THE
AMERICAN ARTS, LIKE A MANY-FACETED MIRROR, HAVE BEEN A
COLORFUL REFLECTION OF OUR NATION'S HISTORY. THE MUSIC
OF THE FRONTIER LED To THE BLUES OF THE BAYOU, AND THE
SWING BANDS OF THE CITIES.
- 5 -
THE PRIMITIVISM OF THE EARLY PAINTERS GAVE WAY TO THE
ROMANTICISM OF THE HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL AND LATER,
AMERICAN IMPRESSIONISM AND ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM. IN
ARCHITECTURE, AMERICANS SEE EVERYTHING FROM THE FEDERAL
STYLE TO POST-MODERNISM. MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY AND
FILMMAKING HAVE THEIR ROOTS IN THE TINTYPES OF THE
CIVIL WAR ERA.
- 6 -
AND FROM OUR EARLIEST WRITINGS TO THIS WEEK'S
BESTSELLER LIST, WE'VE SEEN AMERICAN POETRY, NOVELS AND
SHORT STORIES EARN A UNIQUE PLACE IN THE LITERATURE OF
THE WORLD. CITIES LIKE NEW YORK AND Los ANGELES HAVE
BECOME ART CAPITALS OF INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE, AND
REGIONAL ORCHESTRAS, MUSEUMS, DANCE TROUPES AND OPERA
COMPANIES HAVE ENJOYED SPECTACULAR SUCCESSES.
WE NEED TO MAKE THIS GREAT DIVERSITY OF ART MORE A
PART OF THE LIVES OF ALL AMERICANS.
- 7 -
WE NEED TO BEGIN THIS EFFORT IN OUR SCHOOLS so THAT OUR
YOUNG PEOPLE WILL HAVE A SENSE OF THEIR HERITAGE AND
THE CREATIVITY OF THE PRESENT. AND WE NEED TO MAKE
SPECIAL EFFORTS TO REACH OUT TO THOSE WHO DO NOT
REGULARLY PARTICIPATE. THE WORK OF THE NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IN THESE
AREAS.
- 8 -
TODAY, WE HONOR A GROUP OF MEN AND WOMEN WHOSE
CREATIVE IDEAS, TALENT AND PASSION HAVE ADDED so MUCH
TO THE RICH TAPESTRY THAT IS OUR NATION'S CULTURAL
HERITAGE. THEIR WORK IS NOT JUST OF THE MIND BUT OF
THE HEART AND OF THE SOUL.
SOME HAVE CHALLENGED US. SOME HAVE AMAZED US.
SOME HAVE BROUGHT REMARKABLE BEAUTY OF SIGHT AND SOUND
TO US.
- 9 -
BUT ALL HAVE HELPED US TO THINK AND To DREAM AND TO
UNDERSTAND OURSELVES AND OUR WORLD A LITTLE BETTER.
TODAY, WE HONOR ALFRED EISENSTAEDT [I-ZEN-STAHT]
FOR HIS PHOTOGRAPHY, DIZZY GILLESPIE FOR HIS JAZZ
INNOVATIONS, AND JOHN UPDIKE FOR HIS PROSE. KATHERINE
DUNHAM FOR HER DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY, WALKER HANCOCK
FOR HIS SCULPTURE, CZESLAW [SAYS-Lov] MILOSZ [ME-LOSHE]
FOR HIS POETRY, ROBERT MOTHERWELL FOR HIS PAINTINGS,
AND LEOPOLD ADLER FOR HIS HISTORIC PRESERVATION.
- 10 -
AND WE HONOR SOMEONE WHOSE GREAT TALENT AND ENERGY WILL
LIVE ON, LONG AFTER THE SOUND OF HIS MUSIC HAS FADED --
THE LATE VLADIMIR HOROWITZ.
AND WE HONOR THE PATRONS OF THE ARTS -- THOSE WHO
UNDERSTAND THAT WITHOUT THE ARTISTIC CREATIVITY OF ITS
PEOPLE, NO NATION CAN BE WHOLE -- AND THOSE WHOSE
DEDICATION, ENERGY AND COMMITMENT HAVE SUSTAINED THAT
CREATIVITY OVER THE YEARS.
- 11 -
WE HONOR MARTIN FRIEDMAN OF THE WALKER ART CENTER IN
MINNEAPOLIS, LEIGH [LAY] GERDINE [JER-DINE] OF WEBSTER
UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS, AND THE DAYTON HUDSON
CORPORATION. AND NOW, JOHN FROHNMAYER WILL READ THE
CITATIONS FOR NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS TO OUR
RECIPIENTS.
((FROHNMAYER READS CITATIONS, FIRST LADY HANDS
MEDALS TO YOU TO PRESENT TO RECIPIENTS.))
- 12 - -
((BACK TO THE PRESIDENT)) THANK YOU, JOHN. I
CONGRATULATE EACH OF YOU, FOR YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS, YOUR
DREAMS AND YOUR PASSION. You HAVE HONORED THIS NATION,
AND AMERICA IS GRATEFUL TO YOU. GOD BLESS YOU, AND GOD
BLESS AMERICA. CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN. AND NOW
I'D LIKE ALL OF OUR MEDAL WINNERS TO JOIN US UP HERE
FOR A MOMENT.
# # #
NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS AWARDS
LEOPOLD ADLER, II IS A NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED EXPERT
IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION, ONE WHO HAS CHANGED THE FACE
OF HIS HOME TOWN, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA. HE WAS THE
DRIVING FORCE BEHIND TWO REMARKABLE REVITALIZATION
EXPERIMENTS: ONE REFURBISHED THE HISTORIC SECTION OF
SAVANNAH; AND THE OTHER RENOVATED LOW INCOME HOUSING IN
THE VICTORIAN DISTRICT. MR. ADLER HAS ALSO SERVED AS A
TRUSTEE FOR ALMOST A DECADE FOR THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR
HISTORIC PRESERVATION.
- 2 -
To LEOPOLD ADLER FOR HIS CIVIC LEADERSHIP IN PRESERVING
FOR ALL TIME THE BEAUTY OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, AND FOR
MAKING THAT CITY A MODEL OF THE ART OF HISTORIC
PRESERVATION.
- 3 -
KATHERINE DUNHAM IS AN OUTSTANDING DANCER AND
CHOREOGRAPHER. THE DUNHAM COMPANY, THE FIRST BLACK
PROFESSIONAL DANCE COMPANY IN AMERICA, PERFORMED
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD FROM 1938 THROUGH 1963, PRESENTING
THE DANCE, MUSIC AND FOLKLORE OF THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES
AND THE U.S. FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS, Ms. DUNHAM
MAINTAINED THE ONLY PERMANENTLY SELF-SUBSIDIZED DANCE
TROUPE IN AMERICA. SHE ALSO FOUNDED THE DUNHAM SCHOOL
OF ARTS AND RESEARCH IN NEW YORK.
- 4 -
To KATHERINE DUNHAM FOR HER PIONEERING EXPLORATIONS OF
CARIBBEAN AND AFRICAN DANCE WHICH HAVE ENRICHED AND
TRANSFORMED THE ART OF DANCE IN AMERICA.
- 5 -
ALFRED EISENSTAEDT [I-ZEN-STAHT] IS THE
QUINTESSENTIAL PHOTOJOURNALIST WHO PIONEERED THE
INTRODUCTION OF THE CANDID CAMERA TECHNIQUE INTO NEWS
REPORTING. AFTER EMIGRATING FROM WEST PRUSSIA IN 1935,
HE JOINED THE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF OF THE NEW
LIFE MAGAZINE. MR. EISENSTAEDT'S MOST FAMOUS PHOTO IS
THAT OF A SAILOR KISSING A NURSE IN TIMES SQUARE AT THE
END OF WORLD WAR II. As A PHOTOGRAPHER, HE HAS WON
ALMOST EVERY MAJOR PROFESSIONAL AWARD.
- 6 -
To ALFRED EISENSTADT FOR THE EXTRAORDINARY PHOTOGRAPHS
THAT DOCUMENT THE TRAGEDIES AND TRIUMPHS HE HAS
WITNESSED OVER A LIFETIME.
- 7 -
JOHN BIRKS "DIzzy" GILLESPIE IS A VIRTUOSO
MUSICIAN, PIONEER, COMPOSER, AND BANDLEADER WHO HAS
BEEN A PIVOTAL FIGURE IN 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN MUSIC.
A FOUNDER OF THE JAZZ "BEBOP" MOVEMENT, HE DEVELOPED A
RADICAL NEW APPROACH TO IMPROVISATION THAT WAS TO
CHANGE THE COURSE OF MODERN MUSIC MAKING. FOR MORE
THAN FORTY YEARS, HE HAS EXPLORED THE VARIED MUSIC OF
DIFFERENT CULTURES. MR. GILLESPIE HAS PERFORMED BEFORE
COUNTLESS WORLD LEADERS, AND HAS WON NUMEROUS AWARDS.
- 8 -
To JOHN BIRKS "DIzzy" GILLESPIE FOR HIS TRAIL-BLAZING
WORK AS A MUSICIAN WHO HELPED ELEVATE JAZZ TO AN ART
FORM OF THE FIRST RANK, AND FOR SHARING HIS GIFT WITH
LISTENERS AROUND THE WORLD.
- 9 -
WALKER KIRTLAND HANCOCK IS A RENOWNED SCULPTOR
WHOSE WORK SPANS A PERIOD OF 70 YEARS. HE BEGAN BY
SCULPTING THE BUST OF AN ORPHAN AND WAS AWARDED A PRIX
DE ROME WHILE STILL AN APPRENTICE. HE HAS SPENT A
LIFETIME SCULPTING OVER 268 PIECES -- MANY OF THEM
PORTRAIT BUSTS, MONUMENTS AND MEDALS -- IN THE HEROIC
RENAISSANCE STYLE OF FLORENCE. MR. HANCOCK HAS
SCULPTED BUSTS OF AMERICAN HEROES AND PRESIDENTS. HE
HAS SAID THAT JUST AS THE ANCIENT GREEKS DID IN THEIR
SCULPTURE, CELEBRATING HEROES IS "STILL ONE OF THE
WORTHY FUNCTIONS OF SCULPTURE" TODAY.
- 10 -
To WALKER HANCOCK FOR HIS EXTRAORDINARY CONTRIBUTION TO
THE ART OF SCULPTURE, AND FOR DEMONSTRATING THE
ENDURING BEAUTY OF THE CLASSICAL TRADITION.
- 11 -
VLADIMIR HOROWITZ WAS A CONSUMMATE PIANIST AND
GENIUS WHO WAS KNOWN FOR THE "CONTROLLED THUNDER" AND
ELECTRICITY OF HIS PERFORMANCES. APPROPRIATELY, MR.
HOROWITZ' FIRST HOME WAS ON MUSIC STREET IN KIEV. HE
LEFT THE SOVIET UNION AS A MUSICAL SENSATION IN 1925,
TO PLAY IN BERLIN, PARIS, AND FINALLY IN AMERICA AT
CARNEGIE HALL. HE RETURNED TO CARNEGIE HALL 25 YEARS
LATER AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS POPULARITY, AND RETURNED TO
PLAY IN THE SOVIET UNION IN 1986. VLADIMIR HOROWITZ'S
MUSIC HAD A COLORFUL, BLAZING QUALITY AND TECHNICAL
EXCELLENCE. TRULY, HE WAS A MAN WITH NO EQUALS.
- 12 -
To VLADIMIR HOROWITZ FOR HIS EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENTS
AND DISTINCTIVE STYLE AS A PIANIST, WHOSE CONCERTS
BROUGHT PLEASURE TO AUDIENCES EVERYWHERE AND WHOSE
CONTRIBUTIONS TO MUSIC MADE HIM A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD.
- 13 -
CZESLAW MILOSZ [SAYS-Lov ME-LOSHE] IS A POET AND
EDUCATOR, WHOM JOSEPH BRODSKY HAS CALLED "ONE OF THE
GREATEST POETS OF OUR TIME, PERHAPS THE GREATEST." MR.
MILOSZ WAS BORN IN LITHUANIA IN 1911 AND BECAME A
NATURALIZED CITIZEN IN 1970. As ONE OF THE LEADERS IN
THE AVANT-GARDE POETRY MOVEMENT IN POLAND DURING THE
1930's, HE EDITED AN ANTI-NAZI ANTHOLOGY, "INVINCIBLE
SONG." MR. MILOSZ WON THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
IN 1980, FOR HIS POETRY ON LIFE IN THIS CENTURY.
- 14 -
To CZESLAW MILOSZ FOR GLORIOUS POETRY AND PROSE THAT
CELEBRATES THE FREEDOM-LOVING SPIRIT NOT ONLY OF HIS
NATIVE POLAND BUT THAT OF HIS ADOPTED COUNTRY, THE
UNITED STATES.
- 15 -
ROBERT MOTHERWELL IS AN ARTIST OF GLOBAL STATURE,
RENOWNED AS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF AMERICAN ABSTRACT
EXPRESSIONISM -- THE FIRST AMERICAN ART MOVEMENT TO
RECEIVE RECOGNITION INTERNATIONALLY AS BEING ON THE
LEADING EDGE OF WORLD ART. HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR A
SERIES OF MONUMENTAL PAINTINGS ON THE "SPANISH ELEGY"
THEME, FOR ABSTRACT PAINTINGS IN THE "OPEN" SERIES, AND
AS A MASTER OF COLLAGES. HE HAS RECEIVED A MULTITUDE
OF HONORS IN THE FIVE DECADES OF HIS CAREER.
- 16 -
To ROBERT MOTHERWELL FOR REFLECTING IN HIS ART THE VERY
ESSENCE OF AMERICAN FREEDOM, WITH PAINTINGS THAT HAVE
FOUND A DISTINGUISHED PLACE IN COLLECTIONS EVERYWHERE.
- 17 -
JOHN UPDIKE IS THE AUTHOR OF OVER 30 BOOKS OF
POETRY, NOVELS, SHORT STORIES AND ESSAYS. MR. UPDIKE
IS ONE OF THE BEST CHRONICLERS OF AMERICAN SMALL TOWN
LIFE IN LITERATURE. HE BEGAN AS A WRITER FOR THE NEW
YORKER MAGAZINE, THEN AUTHORED THE NOVELS THE POORHOUSE
FAIR, RABBIT, RUN, AND AMONG MANY OTHERS, THE CENTAUR
AND THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK. AMONG MANY OTHER AWARDS,
IN 1982 MR. UPDIKE RECEIVED THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR
FICTION FOR RABBIT IS RICH.
- 18 -
To JOHN UPDIKE FOR NOVELS AND STORIES THAT OVER A
FORTY-YEAR CAREER HAVE GIVEN US A WRYLY AFFECTIONATE
YET PENETRATING ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLEXITY OF LIFE IN
TODAY'S AMERICA.
- 19 -
MARTIN FRIEDMAN IS ONE OF OUR NATION'S MOST
INNOVATIVE AND SCHOLARLY MUSEUM DIRECTORS. MR.
FRIEDMAN HAS SERVED AS DIRECTOR OF THE WALKER ART
CENTER IN MINNEAPOLIS SINCE 1961, MAKING IT INTO ONE OF
THE PREMIER SMALL MUSEUMS IN THIS COUNTRY -- IN
EXHIBITIONS AS WELL AS PERFORMING ARTS. IN ADDITION TO
HIS ACTIVISM IN THE ARTS COMMUNITY, HE HAS WRITTEN
EXTENSIVELY ON CONTEMPORARY ART, AND RECENTLY HELPED
CREATE THE NEW MINNEAPOLIS SCULPTURE GARDEN.
- 20 -
To MARTIN FRIEDMAN FOR OPENING THE DOORS OF HIS MUSEUM
TO THE BEST OF ALL OF THE ARTS OF OUR TIME -- FROM
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE TO FILM, VIDEO AND PERFORMANCE -
- AND FOR OPENING OUR EYES TO THE VITAL CONNECTIONS
BETWEEN THESE FORMS OF EXPRESSION.
- 21 -
LEIGH GERDINE [LAY JER-DINE] IS AN OUTSTANDING
CIVIC LEADER WHO HAS PAVED THE WAY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT
OF EVERY MAJOR CULTURAL INSTITUTION IN ST. LOUIS. MR.
GERDINE IS A 40-YEAR RESIDENT OF THAT CITY, AND FOR
18 YEARS, HAS BEEN PRESIDENT OF WEBSTER UNIVERSITY. HE
HAS BEEN DEEPLY INVOLVED IN THE ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY, THE
ST. LOUIS REPERTORY COMPANY, AND WAS FOUNDING CHAIRMAN
OF THE ST. LOUIS OPERA THEATER, NOW ONE OF THE MOST
WIDELY ACCLAIMED COMPANIES IN THE COUNTRY.
- 22 -
To LEIGH GERDINE FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED CAREER AS A
MUSICIAN AND EDUCATOR, AND FOR THE ENLIGHTENED
PATRONAGE WHICH HAS EARNED HIM THE TITLE OF "SPIRITUAL
FATHER OF THE ARTS IN ST. LOUIS."
- 23 -
DAYTON HUDSON CORPORATION HAS BEEN A LEADER IN
CORPORATE GIVING FOR 43 YEARS -- SINCE 1980, THE
CORPORATION HAS CONTRIBUTED NEARLY 70 MILLION DOLLARS
To ARTS PROGRAMS IN THE UNITED STATES. DAYTON HUDSON
HAS TARGETED SUPPORT TO PROGRAMS THAT, ON A LONG-TERM
BASIS, MAKE A COMMUNITY A MORE VITAL PLACE IN WHICH TO
LIVE. DURING 1988 ALONE, DAYTON HUDSON GENEROUSLY
AWARDED $7.4 MILLION TO 580 ARTS PROGRAMS IN 37 STATES
AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
- 24 -
To DAYTON HUDSON CORPORATION FOR HELPING TO FORGE A
VITAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE CORPORATE SECTOR AND THE
ARTS COMMUNITY, AND FOR DEMONSTRATING HOW BOTH CAN
BENEFIT IN THE PROCESS.
###
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
11/16/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
GRAY
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
HODSOLL
REMARKS:
The attached has been forwarded to the President.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
1939 NOV '5 PM >: 43
November 15, 1989
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
MARY KATE GRANT meg
SUBJECT:
NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS AWARDS
I. SUMMARY
Attached are proposed remarks for the National Medal of the
Arts Awards ceremony, to be held Friday, November 17, at 12 noon
in the East Room (lunch will follow in the State Dining Room.)
The First Lady has agreed to the format set during the previous
Administration: You will deliver opening remarks from cards; she
will read the biographies and medal citations; you will hand the
recipients their medals and shake hands; then you will thank the
participants and end the ceremony.
II. DISCUSSION
This is the fifth annual presentation of the National Medal
of the Arts, begun under President Reagan. They honor great
artists as well as patrons of the arts; a posthumous medal will
also be awarded to Vladimir Horowitz. Your remarks discuss the
role of the arts in our society and the unique place they hold in
American history.
The attached biographies will be sent to Mrs. Bush on
Thursday.
Grant/Simon
November 15, 1989
Draft three
A:medal
REMARKS: NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS
AWARDS LUNCHEON / EAST ROOM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1989
12:00 NOON
Thank you, all of you, for being here today for the fifth
annual presentation of the National Medal of the Arts. It's a
great pleasure and an honor for Barbara and me to welcome you to
the White House. I would like to thank the National Council on
the Arts, the Committee on the Arts and Humanities, as well as
John Frohnmayer, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts,
and, of course, Hugh Southern, for the support and encouragement
of America's cultural life.
Dante once wrote that "Art imitates nature as well as it
can, as a pupil follows his master; thus it is a sort of
grandchild of God." As this "grandchild of God," art embraces
our values and history, gives meaning to our existence and
illuminates the basic human truths which give us purpose. In a
way, art defines our civilization.
But in another, more personal way, art opens entire new
worlds for each of us, letting us see and hear and even feel life
through the mind of someone else -- from new perspectives.
Instead of seeing a single world, we can see as many worlds as
there are artists and writers, dancers and musicians.
The diversity of art in this Nation is truly a product of
the diversity of our democracy. The American arts, like a many-
2
faceted mirror, have been a colorful reflection of our Nation's
history. The music of the frontier led to the blues of the
bayou, and the swing bands of the cities. The primitivism of the
early painters gave way to the romanticism of the Hudson River
school and later, American impressionism and abstract
expressionism. In architecture, Americans see everything from
the Federal style to post-modernism. Modern photography and
filmmaking have their roots in the tintypes of the Civil War era.
And from our earliest writings to this week's bestseller list,
we've seen American poetry, novels and short stories earn a
unique place in the literature of the world. Cities like New
York and Los Angeles have become art capitals of international
importance, and regional orchestras, museums, dance troupes and
opera companies have enjoyed spectacular successes.
We need to make this great diversity of art more a part of
the lives of all Americans. We need to begin this effort in our
schools so that our young people will have a sense of their
heritage and the creativity of the present. And we need to make
special efforts to reach out to those who do not regularly
participate. The work of the National Endowment for the Arts is
especially important in these areas.
Today, we honor a group of men and women whose creative
ideas, talent and passion have added so much to the rich tapestry
that is our Nation's cultural heritage. Their work is not just
of the mind but of the heart and of the soul.
3
Some have challenged us. Some have amazed us. Some have
brought remarkable beauty of sight and sound to us. But all have
helped us to think and to dream and to understand ourselves and
our world a little better.
Today, we honor Alfred Eisenstaedt for his photography,
Dizzy Gillespie for his jazz innovations, and John Updike for his
prose. Katherine Dunham for her dance and choreography, Walker
Hancock for his sculpture, Czeslaw Milosz for his poetry, Robert
Motherwell for his paintings, and Leopold Adler for his historic
preservation. ( (And we honor someone whose great talent and
energy will live on, long after the thunder of his music has
faded -- the late Vladimir Horowitz.)
And we honor the patrons of the arts -- those who understand
that without the artistic creativity of its people, no nation can
be whole -- and those whose dedication, energy and commitment
have sustained that creativity over the years. We honor Martin
Friedman of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Leigh Gerdine
of Webster University in St. Louis, and the Dayton Hudson
Corporation. And now, Barbara will read the citations for
National Medal of the Arts to our recipients.
( (FIRST LADY READS CITATIONS ))
( (BACK TO THE PRESIDENT)) Thank you, Barbara. I
congratulate each of you, for your achievements, your dreams and
your passion. You have honored this Nation, and America is
grateful to you. God bless you, and God bless America.
Congratulations once again.
NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS AWARDS
( (THE FIRST LADY))
Leopold Adler, II is a nationally recognized expert in
historic preservation, and a native of Savannah, Georgia. Mr.
Adler changed the face of his home town and demonstrated for many
other civic leaders how to revitalize an old city with great
potential. He was the driving force behind two remarkable
experiments in inner city revitalization: one resulted in the
designation of the historic section of Savannah as a "National
Historic District"; and the other in the renovation of low income
housing in the Victorian district of the city. Mr. Adler has
also served as a trustee for almost a decade for the National
Trust for Historic Preservation. To Leopold Adler for his civic
leadership in preserving for all time the beauty of Savannah,
Georgia, and for making that city a model of the art of historic
preservation.
Katherine Dunham is an innovative and outstanding dancer and
choreographer. Born in Chicago, she founded the Ballet
Negre [NAY-grh] there in 1931. The Dunham Company, the first
Black professional dance company in America, performed throughout
the world from 1938 through 1963, presenting the dance, music and
folklore of Third World countries and the U.S. For over thirty
years, Ms. Dunham maintained the only permanently self-subsidized
dance troupe in America. She also founded the Dunham School of
Arts and Research in New York. The Dunham Technique is described
as a "style of dance and a philosophy of life,' reflected in many
of our present day works on stage and screen. To Katherine
2
Dunham for her pioneering explorations of Caribbean and African
dance which have enriched and transformed the art of dance in
America.
Alfred Eisenstaedt is the quintessential photojournalist who
pioneered the introduction of the candid camera, technique into
news reporting. After emigrating from West Prussia in 1935, he
joined the original photography staff of the new Life Magazine.
The photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square at the end
of World War II, is Eisenstaedt's most famous photo and it
embodies America's joy and relief. As a photographer, he has won
almost every major award given to those in his profession. Now,
at the age of 90, he has left us as his legacy a photographic
record of the writers, musicians, statesmen, scientists,
educators and people of our time, and the historic events
surrounding them. To Alfred Eisenstadt for the extraordinary
photographs that document the tragedies and triumphs he has
witnessed over a lifetime.
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie is a world famous jazz
trumpeter, who began working with a trumpet at the age of 12.
Mr. Gillespie is a pivotal figure in 20th Century American music,
and an innovator in the "bebop" movement in modern jazz. While
playing with Earl "Fatha" Hines, he developed a radical new
approach to improvisation that was to change the course of modern
music making. Over the years, he has been the featured trumpeter
with many of America's leading swing orchestras. Dizzy Gillespie
is credited with introducing Afro-Cuban rhythms into jazz in 1947
and the South American bossa nova to the United States. To John
3
Berks "Dizzy" Gillespie for his trail-blazing work as a musician
who helped elevate jazz to an art form of the first rank, and for
sharing his gift with listeners around the world.
Walker Kirtland Hancock is a renowned sculptor whose work
spans a period of 70 years. He began it by sculpting the bust of
an orphan and was awarded a Prix de Rome while still an
apprentice. He has spent a lifetime sculpting over 268 pieces --
many of them portrait busts, monuments and medals -- in the
heroic Renaissance style of Florence. Mr. Hancock has sculpted
busts of John Paul Jones, President Abraham Lincoln, Vice
President Hubert Humphrey, then-Vice President Gerald Ford, and
Chief Justice Warren Burger. Commenting on the similarity of his
philosophy on sculpture with that of the Greek civilization -- he
observed that the Greeks made heroes of ordinary mortals making
heroes of them. He said that celebrating heroes was "still one
of the worthy functions of sculpture." To Walter Hancock for his!
extraordinary conribution to the art of sculpture, and for
demonstrating the enduring beauty of the classical tradition.
( (Vladimir Horowitz biography to come))
4
Czeslaw Milosz is a poet and educator, whom Joseph Brodsky
has called "one of the greatest poets of our time, perhaps the
greatest." Mr. Milosz was born in Lithuania in 1911 and
emigrated to the U.S. in 1960, becoming a naturalized citizen in
1970. Known as one of the leaders in the avant-garde poetry
movement in Poland during the 1930's, Mr. Milosz served in the
Resistance during World War II and edited an anti-Nazi anthology,
"Invincible Song." He has written several works in English, and
in 1980 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. To Czeslaw Milosz
for glorious poetry and prose that celebrates the freedom-loving
spirit not only of his native Poland but that of his adopted
country, the United States.
Robert Motherwell is a great painter known throughout the
world as a leader in the New York School of Abstract
Expressionism. Mr. Motherwell's first shows occurred in Paris in
1939 and in this country in New York in 1944. By the 1960's and
1970's, his work was featured in most of the major museums and
galleries in the United States. In the 1940's, Mr. Motherwell
created "monumental canvases" from his collages, often in stark
black and white. By the 1960's he was producing large scale
works, such as the "Open" series done with a monochromatic
palette. To Robert Motherwell for reflecting in his art the very
essence of American freedom, with paintings that have found a
distinguished place in collections everywhere.
5
John Updike is the author of over 36 books of poetry,
novels, short stories and essays. He began as a writer for the
New Yorker Magazine, then authored the novels The Poorhouse Fair,
Rabbit, Run, and among many others, The Centaur. His 1984 novel,
The Witches of Eastwick was made into a major motion picture. In
1982 Mr. Updike received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well
as the American Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle
Award for writing Rabbit is Rich. To John Updike for novels and
stories that over a forty-year career have given us a wryly
affectionate yet penetrating analysis of the complexity of life
in today's America.
Martin Friedman is one of our Nation's most innovative and
scholarly museum directors. Mr. Friedman has served as Director
of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis since 1961, making that
institution into one of the premier small museums in this country
-- in exhibitions as well as a major presenter of performing
arts. He has served as a Presidentially appointed member of the
National Council on the Arts, and was made an Officier des Arts
et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 1984. To Martin
Friedman for opening the doors of his museum to the best of all
of the arts of our time -- from painting and sculpture to film,
video and performance -- and for opening our eyes to the vital
connections between these forms of expression.
6
Leigh Gerdine is an outstanding civic leader who has paved
the way for the development of every major cultural institution
in St. Louis. A 40-year resident of that city, he was professor
and chairman of the Department of Music at Washington University;
for the last 18 years, he has been president of Webster
University. Leigh Gerdine has helped shape the cultural
activities of St. Louis and has provided a level of leadership
which has enabled the city to become a major arts center. Mr.
Gerdine has been deeply involved in the St. Louis Symphony, the
St. Louis Repertory Company, and was the founding chairman of the
St. Louis Opera Theater, now one of the most widely acclaimed
companies in the country. To Leigh Gerdine for his distinguished
career as a musician and educator, and for the enlightened
patronage which has earned him the title of "spiritual father of
the arts in St. Louis."
Dayton Hudson Corporation has been a leader in corporate
giving for 42 years -- giving five percent of its Federallly
taxable income for worthwhile community programs and currently
forty percent of that figure to the arts. Dayton Hudson's has
targeted support to programs and projects that increase, on a
long-term basis, a community's resources making it a more vital
place in which to live. Artistic leadership and increased access
to the arts are primary goals of the funding. Dayton Hudson's
dollar support for the arts ranks among the top five art
supporters in the country -- having contributed over the last ten
years $60 million to art programs in 48 states and the District
of Columbia. To Dayton Hudson Corporation for helping to forge a
7
vital partnership between the corporate sector and the arts
community, and for demonstrating how both can benefit in the
process.
CLOSE HOLD
Document No. 09014455
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
11/14/89
11/15/89 2:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
PORTER ROSE
FITZWATER
GRAY
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
HODSOLL
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Wednesday, November 15, with a
copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
CLOSE HOLD
NU
SS 6 v 91.130.68 68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Grant/Simon
November 14, 1989
1989 NOV 14 PM 5: 19
Draft two
A:medal
REMARKS: NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS
AWARDS LUNCHEON / EAST ROOM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1989
12:00 NOON
Thank you, all of you, for being here today for the fifth
annual presentation of the National Medal of the Arts. It's a
great pleasure and an honor for Barbara and me to welcome you to
the White House. I would like to thank the National Council on
the Arts for its list of nominees; and the Committee on the Arts
and Humanities, as well as John Frohnmayer, chairman of the
National Endowment for the Arts, for all their hard work.
Dante once wrote that "Art imitates nature as well as it
can, as a pupil follows his master; thus it is a sort of
grandchild of God." As this "grandchild of God," art embraces
our values and history, gives meaning to our existence and
illuminates the basic human truths which give us purpose. In a
way, art defines our civilization.
But in another, more personal way, art opens entire new
worlds for each of us, letting us see and hear and even feel life
through the mind of someone else -- from new perspectives.
Instead of seeing a single world, we can see as many worlds as
there are artists and writers, dancers and musicians.
The diversity of art in this Nation is truly a product of
the diversity of our democracy. The American arts, like a many-
faceted mirror, have been a colorful reflection of our Nation's
2
history. The music of the frontier led to the blues of the
bayou, and the swing bands of the cities. The primitivism of the
early painters gave way to the romanticism of the Hudson River
school and later the abstract expressionism of recent times. In
architecture, Americans see everything from neoclassicism and
modernism. Modern photography and filmmaking have their roots in
the tintypes of the Civil War era. And from our earliest
writings to this week's bestseller list, we've seen American
poetry, novels and short stories earn a unique place in the
literature of the world. Cities like New York and Los Angeles
have become art capitals of international importance, and
regional orchestras, museums, dance troupes and opera companies
have enjoyed spectacular successes.
Today, we honor a group of men and women whose creative
ideas, talent and passion have added so much to the rich tapestry
that is our Nation's cultural heritage. Their work is not just
of the mind but of the heart and of the soul.
Some have challenged us. Some have amazed us. Some have
brought remarkable beauty of sight and sound to us. But all have
helped us to think and to dream and to understand ourselves and
our world a little better.
Today, we honor Alfred Eisenstaedt for his photography,
Dizzy Gillespie for his jazz innovations, and John Updike for his
prose. Katherine Dunham for her dance and choreography, Walker
Hancock for his sculpture, Czeslaw Milosz for his poetry, Robert
Motherwell for his paintings, and Leopold Adler for his historic
3
building renovations. ( (And we honor someone whose great talent
and energy will live on long after the thunder of his music has
faded, the late Vladimir Horowitz.)
And we honor the patrons of the arts -- those who understand
that without the artistic creativity of its people, no nation can
be whole -- and those whose dedication, energy and commitment
have sustained that creativity over the years. We honor Martin
Friedman of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Leigh Gerdine
of Webster University in St. Louis, and the Dayton Hudson
Corporation. And now, Barbara will award the National Medal of
the Arts to our recipients.
( (FIRST LADY PRESENTS AWARDS. SEE ATTACHED CITATIONS))
( (BACK TO THE PRESIDENT)) Thank you, Barbara. I
congratulate each of you, for your achievements, your dreams and
your passion. You have honored this Nation, and America is
grateful to you. God bless you, and God bless America.
Congratulations once again.
###
NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS AWARDS
( (THE FIRST LADY) )
1989 19
Leopold Adler, II is a nationally recognized expert in
historic preservation, and a native of Savannah, Georgia. Mr.
Adler changed the face of his home town and demonstrated for many
other civic leaders how to revitalize an old city with great
potential. He was the driving force behind two remarkable
experiments in inner city revitalization: one resulted in the
designation of the historic section of Savannah as a "National
Historic District"; and the other in the renovation of low income
housing in the Victorian district of the city. Mr. Adler has
been active nationally, and served as a trustee for almost a
decade for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. ( (Read
Citation on Medal) )
Katherine Dunham is an innovative and outstanding dancer and
choreographer. Born in Chicago, she founded the Ballet Negre
there in 1931. The Dunham Company, the first Black professional
dance company in America, performed throughout the world from
1938 through 1963, presenting the dance, music and folklore of
Third World countries and the U.S. For over thirty years, / Ms.
Dunham maintained the only permanently self-subsidized dance
troupe in America. She also founded the Dunham School of Arts
and Research in New York, which became a reservoir of talent for
Broadway, Hollywood and the world. The Dunham Technique is
described as a "style of dance and a philosophy of life." Many
of our present day works on stage and screen reflect her profound
influence. ((Citation) )
2
Alfred Eisenstaedt is the quintessential photojournalist who
pioneered the introduction of the candid camera technique into
news reporting. After emigrating from West Prussia in 1935, he
became one of the original photography staff of the new Life
Magazine. Eisenstaedt's most famous photo is that of the sailor
kissing the nurse in Times Square at the end of World War II, and
it has come to embody America's joy and relief at the end of the
war. As a photographer, he has won almost every major award
given to those in his profession. Now, at the age of 90, he can
claim to have covered the significant events of the past 50 years
and has left us as his legacy a photographic record of the
writers, musicians, statesmen, scientists and educators of our
time, and the historic events surrounding them. ( (Citation))
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie is a world famous jazz
trumpeter, who began working with a trumpet at the age of 12.
Mr. Gillespie is a pivotal figure in 20th Century American music,
and an innovator in the "bebop" movement in modern jazz. While
playing with Earl "Fatha" Hines, he developed a radical new
approach to improvisation that was to change the course of modern
music making. He was the featured trumpeter with many of
America's leading swing orchestras, including the bands of Teddy
Hill, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, and Billy
Eckstine's legendary orchestra of 1944. Dizzy Gillespie is
credited with introducing Afro-Cuban rhythms into jazz in 1947
and the South American bossa nova to the United States. He is
the author of "To Be, or Not to Bop." ((Citation))
3
Walker Kirtland Hancock is a renowned sculptor whose work
spans a period of 70 years. He began it by sculpting the bust of
an orphan and was awarded a Prix de Rome while still an
apprentice. He has spent a lifetime sculpting over 268 pieces --
many of them portrait busts, monuments and medals -- in the
heroic Renaissance style of Florence. Mr. Hancock has sculpted
busts of John Paul Jones, President Abraham Lincoln, Vice
President Hubert Humphrey, then-Vice President Gerald Ford, and
Chief Justice Warren Burger. In 1971, he commented on the
similarity of his philosophy on sculpture with that of the Greek
civilization -- he observed that the Greeks were the ones who
"began to carve images in honor of ordinary mortals," "making
heroes of them. " He said that celebrating heroes was "still one
of the worthy functions of sculpture." ( (Citation) )
( (Vladimir Horowitz biography to come) )
4
Czeslaw Milosz is a poet and educator, whom Joseph Brodsky
has called "one of the greatest poets of our time, perhaps the
greatest." Mr. Milosz was born in Lithuania in 1911 and
emigrated to the U.S. in 1960, becoming a naturalized citizen in
1970. Known as one of the leaders in the avant-garde poetry
movement in Poland during the 1930's, Mr. Milosz served in the
Resistance during World War II and edited an anti-Nazi anthology,
"Invincible Song.' He also served in the Polish diplomatic
service. He has written several works in English, and in 1980 he
won the Nobel Prize for Literature. ((Citation))
Robert Motherwell is a great painter known throughout the
world as a leader in the New York School of Abstract
Expressionism. Mr. Motherwell's first shows occurred in Paris in
1939 and in this country in New York in 1944. By the 1960's and
1970's, his work was featured in most of the major museums and
galleries in the United States. Early in his career he found
himself surrounded by European artists-in-exile, particularly
Surrealists and Cubists. In the 1940's, Mr. Motherwell created
"monumental canvases" from his collages, often in stark black and
white. By the 1960's he was producing large scale works, such as
the "Open" series done with a monochromatic palette. He has
earned a place as one of America's great artists. ((Citation))
5
John Updike is the author of over 36 books of poetry,
novels, short stories and essays. As a novelist, he has written
about his early childhood in Pennsylvania and later as an adult
of his experiences in Massachusetts, where he now lives. He
began as a writer for the New Yorker Magazine, then authored the
novels The Poorhouse Fair, Rabbit, Run, and among many others,
The Centaur. His 1984 novel, The Witches of Eastwick was made
into a major motion picture. In 1982 Mr. Updike received the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the American Book Award and
the National Book Critics Circle Award for writing Rabbit is
Rich. John Updike is one of the best chroniclers of American
small town life in literature. (Citation) )
Martin Friedman is one of our Nation's most innovative and
scholarly museum directors. Mr. Friedman has served as Director
of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis since 1961, making that
institution into one of the premier small museums in this country
-- in exhibitions as well as a major presenter of performing
arts. He has served as a Presidentially appointed member of the
National Council on the Arts, and was made an Officier des Arts
et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 1984. Mr.
Friedman is recognized worldwide as a director of a museum which
presents contemporary art, architecture and design as well as
innovative film and performing arts presentations. ((Citation) )
6
Leigh Gerdine is an outstanding civic leader who has paved
the way for the development of every major cultural institution
in St. Louis. A resident of that city for nearly four decades,
he was professor and chairman of the Department of Music at
Washington University in St. Louis from 1950 to 1970; for the
last 18 years, he has been president of Webster University in St.
Louis. Leigh Gerdine has helped shape the cultural activities of
St. Louis and has provided a level of leadership which has
enabled the city to become a major arts center in our country.
Mr. Gerdine has been deeply involved in the St. Louis Symphony,
the St. Louis Repertory Company, and was the founding chairman of
the St. Louis Opera Theater, now one of the most widely acclaimed
companies in the country. ( (Citation))
Dayton Hudson Corporation has been a leader in corporate
giving for 42 years -- giving five percent of its Federallly
taxable income for worthwhile community programs and currently
forty percent of that figure to the arts. Dayton Hudson's policy
in grant making has been targeted to programs and projects that
increase, on a long-term basis, a community's resources making it
a more vital place in which to live. Artistic leadership and
increased access to the arts are primary goals of the funding.
Dayton Hudson's dollar support for the arts ranks among the top
five art supporters in the country -- having contributed over the
last ten years $59 million to art programs in 48 states and the
District of Columbia. Dayton Hudson has generously contributed
to both institutional projects as well as individual artists.
((Citation))