National Civic Art Society Statement on the Removal and Vandalization of Public Statues

June 30, 2020

The National Civic Art Society believes in shared public spaces as an opportunity to display civic art that recalls the past, invites reflection, and inspires a more hopeful future. NCAS decries the lawless destruction and vandalization of public monuments taking place in the United States today. Across the land and in numbers never before seen on American soil, mobs have pulled down or defaced statues of presidents, generals, missionaries, abolitionists, pacifists, explorers, and authors. Beloved national memorials, including the Lincoln Memorial and World War II Memorial, have also been vandalized. In too many cases, the iconoclasts have acted with impunity, as local elected officials and police failed to protect art which resulted from public deliberation.

Monuments can have a powerful impact on our identity and consciousness, which is why for millennia civilizations have built them. An examination of history shows that the meaning and value of a particular work of civic art can vary and change according to the place and time. It is crucial that Americans, as thoughtful persons in a liberal society and a democratic republic, acknowledge and tolerate such polyvalent complexity. A work of art or architecture can be esteemed even if it was created by a culture very different from ours.

Even without explicit contextualization, a statue’s original ideological underpinnings can fade away and be replaced by new meanings. The aesthetic value of an artwork can thus maintain its worth independent of its intended function or symbolism. Accomplished artworks, regardless of their origins, can serve as a model for the future. No society’s heritage is perfect, and it is too much and improper to demand that all public art be immaculately conceived.

The current controversies in American life demonstrate the need for building new commemorative works that reflect contemporary values while following the best of our artistic tradition. The National Civic Art Society has, for instance, long advocated for building the proposed classical design of the National Liberty Memorial in Washington, D.C., which would honor the men and women of African descent who fought or took part in America’s War of Independence. 

We believe that, if unchecked, the current spate of vandalism will have a disastrous chilling effect on works to come. The power to determine the fate of civic art, both existing and proposed, must lie not with the reckless mob but with the responsible, judicious public that is capable of reflecting on its own past. 

The National Civic Art Society calls for tolerating diversity and complexity, balancing sameness and change, and adhering to democratic process in the face of unrestrained passion.