ABSTRACT
In 1998, the publication of J. Carter Brown’s four-year-old comment triggered howls of outrage from active and former military personnel, who strenuously objected to his assessment of the World War II Marine memorial as “low brow” art. Brown, who was chair of the U.S. Fine Arts Commission, a post he had held for twenty-seven years, and a former head of the National Gallery (twenty-two years), quickly backtracked, claiming that his use of the word “Kitsch” referred “to the popular appeal of the sculpture, which as I say I think is one of the greatest.”2 Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY), a former Marine and chair of the powerful House Rules Committee, was not appeased and called for Brown’s resignation. Brown managed to hang on to the appointment, as he was a well-respected figure in both the ar t and political communities,3 and the controversy quickly died down.
