Click the “Enlarge” button to see the whole gallery of images from LIFE magazine.

Uh oh.

A plunging stock market, shrinking endowments, disappearing visitors, evaporating donations, long-term declines in audiences… things are looking bleak for a lot of American cultural institutions.  James Panero writes in City Journal that New York City arts organizations are only beginning to feel the punishing effects of the the Great Recession.  Overly risky investments and poor management may also be factors.  Even the wealthiest museums are barely keeping afloat.  Quite a few of these centuries-old institutions may not survive:

To understand the current condition of arts organizations in New York City, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, you will find one of Winslow Homer’s most famous works, The Gulf Stream. Painted in 1899, the canvas depicts a solitary sailor lashed to his boat on a storm-tossed sea. The mast and bowsprit have snapped, the tiller and rudder are gone, and a school of sharks circles the boat in blood-red water. On the horizon are two images. On the left, through the fog, is the silhouette of a ship under full sail: a possible rescue. On the right, a looming waterspout presents a far more ominous outcome.Homer was no allegorist, but his work serves, unfortunately, as an all-too-appropriate metaphor. Just as the storm has knocked out the boat’s propulsion and steering, an initial wave—the downturn in the financial markets—has smashed the endowments of arts organizations. Now a second threat, the indirect effects of the downturn, is appearing on the horizon like the waterspout. Its full force will be felt by arts organizations in the months and years ahead.

The rest of Panero’s troubling story can be read here at City Journal (via Arts & Letters Daily).

Let’s slip the surly bonds of Earth…

Art critic James Panero of The New Criterion shares a vivid profile (11:27, Michael Feldman, dir.) of painter Thornton Willis:

An exhibition of Willis’s “lattice” paintings runs through April 18th at New York’s Elizabeth Harris Gallery.

[Thornton Willis' website]

[More by James Panero on Willis]

No surprise here, but the arts and culture sector has been particularly decimated in recent months.

The downturn walloping the entire economy has hit non-profit arts organizations especially hard. With millions of people scrambling to pay for food and other basics, a night at the opera can seem frivolous. So museums, symphonies, theaters, ballet companies and opera companies have cut staff, canceled performances, shortened seasons and, in some cases, shut down.

The worst may be yet to come.

Disturbing details continue here.  Whether these institutions belong among the beneficiaries of federal stimulus largesse is an open question (though the $50 million set aside for the National Endowment for the Arts seems sub-trivial in these “trillion here, trillion there” times).

Regardless of one’s position on the stimulus spending, everyone could agree that we should at least encourage private donations to museums, dance companies, historic sites, etc. in these dark times. But the Obama administration’s new budget calls for scaling back tax deductions for charitable giving. Billions in annual donations may be at risk.

In addition to our commercial entertainment industry, cultural expression in America has thrived because of our decentralized system based on the voluntary support of foundations and individuals.  Philanthropic donations to non-profit arts and education programs have been the lifeblood of our vibrant cultural scene, especially for those art forms that don’t enjoy mass appeal.

A measure that would have a negligible effect on the federal budget might have a catastrophic effect on the non-profit world.

Some very interesting styles, clothes, art, and music from a totally unique era of studied disaffection and universal nonchalance.

Looking for things to do when you are unemployed, underemployed, or just plain scared of spending money?

If you can afford to stay connected to the Internet, you now have access to a vast repository of enjoyable, intriguing, and edifying cultural content.  And a lot of it is free, cheap, and/or legal.

As mentioned here recently, science fiction author John Scalzi recently put together his own comprehensive family entertainment package for less than $100 per month with things like Netflix, Rhapsody, and a public library.  Scalzi’s list is a good starting point, but there are many cultural resources available for less than, say, the $20 it costs for the privilege of entering the Museum of Modern Art.

Cultural enrichment can be free or low-cost, especially if you look beyond “blockbusters.”  Today, there is more enlightening material available more widely than ever in human history.  From highbrow to lowbrow, and everything in between, there is an explosion of expression… more than any one person could digest in a lifetime.

Now is the time to explore that long tail of cultural production other than the biggest and latest thing.

From Project Gutenberg’s electronic editions of classic literature to historic music performances on YouTube, the most enduring works of our culture are suddenly the most accessible.  The Library of Congress has been steadily digitizing its treasures of American history, music, and culture…  it’s all free at the American Memory website.

For more contemporary fare, there is a flowering of creativity and energy to be found in podcasts, online video, ebooks, blogs, etc.  The only problem is how to start drinking-in this ocean of expression.

A great place to look for digital gems is the outstanding website, Open Culture, which is indexing these free cultural riches.

Which brings us to another advantage of the digital age… the ease with which people can share discoveries and insights with others.  Blogs, aggregators, and magazines can help us search out the best and most interesting content on the Internet.  Online social media provide unprecedented opportunities to converse with others who share idiosyncratic enthusiasms.  It is a wide open frontier for growing knowledge and experiencing art, and it is almost always free for the taking.

Where does this advice leave booksellers, public media, performing arts companies, arthouse movie theaters, and museums?  Anyone who can afford it should patronize and support these institutions as much as possible.  They are far more valuable than the nominal fees they charge.  Still, many of these institutions are adapting to the current environment.

Many museums have dropped admission charges entirely.  One way of engaging in cultural activities that would be otherwise out of reach is to volunteer on their behalf.  Who knows, maybe helping out for free could lead to a new career?

The arts and the humanities have always been sources of consolation, rejuvenation, information, or distraction in tough times.  Reading in history, matching music to mood, satisfying long-deferred curiosity… these are all important activities for mental and spiritual health and for a practical understanding of the world we inhabit.

As our Great Recession continues, these seemingly ephemeral things will only seem more important.  Thank goodness they are more available now than ever before.

The highlight of every year at the National Endowment for the Humanities is the annual Jefferson Lecture.  Each May, a thousand or so people cram a Washington venue like the elegant Warner Theatre to listen to a distinguished scholar speak for an hour about the humanities.  The lectureship is an award from the American people.  It’s accompanied by a $10,000 check drawn on the U.S. Treasury and a nice engraving of Thomas Jefferson.

Last spring, the Jefferson Lecturer asked “What is American about American art?” This question, among others about visual art, was an abiding passion of John Updike’s. In addition to his novels, poetry, essays, and criticism, he was the author of two books and many essays of art criticism.  Among his many other achievements, his work on art deserves respect and recognition.  He brought a fresh, idiosyncratic vision to his art criticism.  He seemed to value a direct engagement with objects and brought his own manner of seeing and writing.

Here’s the NEH web package on Updike’s lecture from last May.  I especially recommend Adam Gopnik’s “appreciation.”

R.I.P., John Updike.