White House Historical Association
When the Committee for the Preservation of the White House met on Sept. 6, they had lots to discuss: identifying art collection policies to change, textiles to replace and rooms to refurbish, plus any necessary updates to continue modernizing a 19th-century house for 21st-century living.
But the wider arts community had their eyes on another potential task of the committee: tackling the glaring lack of diversity among the artists represented in the presidential mansion. Of the 512 artworks in the White House collection, only 32 are by women, and 12 by artists of color.
In April, the committee had its first meeting after President Biden named 13 appointees. While no formal decisions were made regarding the art collection, at least one of the newcomers to the committee believes the artists represented in the White House’s art collection should be more diverse.
That appointee is Ethan Lasser, the chair of Art of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He says he’s not surprised by the collection’s lack of diversity: many museums, including his own, are beginning to address similar issues in their portfolios.
“Building the [White House] collection in ways that really tackles those absences, those gaps, should be the work going forward,” says Lasser.
But whether the White House has the capacity to make its art collection more inclusive — or the inclination — remains to be seen. “I won’t say the collection’s complete,” says art...
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