NOTE TO MEMBERS, FAC FROM(Sanitized)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87-01130R000200190006-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2001
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: December 12, 1972
• Content Type: NOTES

STATINTL
Approved For ReI` a 2002/01/08: CIA-RDP87-01130R00 & 0190006-3
MEMBERS, FAC
The attached article from the Washington Post
criticizes the Department of State's Fine ArtsCommission
for furnishing some parts of the Department as though it
were an 18th century Philadelphia town house, and argues
it would be much wiser to use the best 20th century fur-
niture, in which the U.S. excels, as well as modern
American handcrafts. Presumably the author would say
the same for American art. The article thus is an un-
conscious recommendation of what the CIA's FAC has in
fact been doing. Note especially in the sidelined para-
graph on page 2 that Knoll is identified as one of the
two great American desi n firms. It is for this reason
that and I have been press-
ing to re urnis one ot the Agency's public faces, the
main reception room, with Knoll furniture even though it
exceeds the schedu1e.
ing airman
Fine Arts Commission
Approved For Release 2002/01/08 : CIA-RDP87-0113OR000200190006-3
STATINTL
 CUNSC
~."'7a TO V d o
ihe Old
,Ind New
ease 2002/01/08 CIA-P0P87-01130E 100200190006-3
3 .ae...f $
BY Wolf Von Eckardt
One of the most beauti-
ful public collections of
early American furnishings
is housed in one of the ugli-
est buildings in Washington.
"Be kind to us, we are
hard-pressed public servants
who are doing the best we
can," said Clement E. Con.
ger after a tour of this $7
million array' of precious
Americana. It furnishes
what seems like miles of
Diplomatic Reception Rooms
on the eighth floor of the
State Department Building, a
pseudo-modern structure of
awesome, sterile mediocrity,
designed in the late 1950s.
Conger, a man with
charming humor and erudi-
tion. is the chairman of the
c 'ittee in charge of the
A Philadelphia Chippendale Pembroke table
and late 18th-century mahogany Philadelphia
secretary-desk are part of the antique furnish-
ings in one of Washington's modern office
buildings.
Department's Ameri- formance in carrying out a
calcollection. He serves difficult but questionable as-
without
l
sa
ary, being paid signment for the State Dc-
question his zeal in raising
a_
There it "o reason
for any
ong
i
punctil
ous per- somewhat lesser collectio
Coming'
? Walter h opps, this area's
most widely respected authority
on contemporary art, has been
hired by the Smithsonian Insti-
By
I dc
me
Gabt
Ball
Hob
Fi
who
aboi
for
log
the-
ball'
appa
side-
vice
Am
whi
air
Chi
Adr
Zur
wal
wir
be
the
than that displayed at State. 1' wlit
Furnishing the Diplo-
matic Reception Rooms with
precious antiques can be
questioned on several
counts:
Why, first of all, should
See CITYSCAPE, C5, Col. 1
Going
? Rill Walton, managing di.
rector of
er Club,
ears in
tution's National Collection, of .Wage C3.
Fine Arts. See story, Page C7.
the Washington Thea-
has resigned after two
that post. See story,
"[110.
mci
-cr,
Pro
:a t
alt; iN
grax
E
Call-
Roc
bee
ion
a 1,
mac:
tic
Approved For Release 2002/01/08 : CIA-RDP87-0113OR000200190006-3
 e
a
nnen
19 i-U Ihqu
s
SCAPE. From CI goods floor of some depart- pats car not wig? sew money t?? `
g guidc-cially
alace hgause ted is lliond at the
CITY
And then there but tax deductions. s o
tstore
change
se
d i
f t
guide-
.
p
s in
x
oe
ntlal
01 men
her
thesetting, for are those columns, the curse he donors are rich and l.
functions of late. 20th-cep- of curtain wall architecture, prominent, of course, and for royalties. books to toe
fury Americ com- lords, knights ad dukein
which In some rooms utterly more often than not the Criticized for this
an government
in Washington be dressed defeat the furniture display. kind of people who are re. mercialism, Conger asked: addition to chaglnl; adRtlsin late 18th?.cntury PhilAnd a display it Is. Most ceptive to having their fa- "How else can we raise stn t th it hi O c o pull
The r of the antiques are lined up vors returned. more money?"
ad tv+ nhousc style?
The reception rooms are, along the wall as hi a mu? To raise more moldy for Well, he miht, for Insb the crowds.
of course, meant to impress scum, conversation pieces White House furnishings, ante, follow the British exThe Marquessof Bath ac-
foreign visitors, some 60,000 for stand-up cocktail parties.Conger and his White House ample. To help finance the qulred 46 lions o entertain
a year, not to speak of the These reception rooms may Historical Association au- upkeepof Blenheim Palace, his paying gt'sts. Lrd
50,000 o? so tourists who see serve receptions. Rooms' tho'izbd a commercial enter-
tem annually. Foreigners they are not.
tend to look upon the U.S. Conger knows. It, of
as a progressive, forward- course, and Is unhappy
looking nation. Most of about It. Ills remedy is to re-,
them can see more and build the roams-hcilthten-
older antiques in One of Icc)ings where posslhtit,
Ilteir own small towns than hiding the plumbing, install-
we can offer In the whole ing moldings, fireplaces and
cnuntry. We can't beat teens alcoves and placing
interior
s Americ interior
esign firms, a n nrs,
I-IZT~ , Nelson, Harry
Bertoia, Marcel Breuer,
Mies van der Rohe, to name
just few, aor lead
such matters, has often re? has already been spent on
ported, there is currently an these so-called "architectural
exciting revival of. the improvements" and at least
crafts in this country. The nother $200000 is needed
50,000 the State Depart- to omplete the deception.
meet has paid for a desk Yesit Is a deception toused by T.: puta kind of pastiche 18th.
cov4r from diplomatic comrn ofbus)could finance e te are not really that der
mp for at least a year. For half the money spent coaldn't the State Depart-
oshowing here America s ment, for less money, have.
culture of living has been,. restored one of Washing-
when we were still a British ton's great mansions-the
ei lony, we could show thekind we keep tearing down?
best of that culture tohe lovely houses along
now that we are a maturethe west side of Lafayette
and astoundingly creative Square, instead of being ic-
nation. modeled into offices, might
It is also questionable, have served well, particu-
hiphdy ' question a b l e, larly since they adjoin Blair whether antique American House, which is also used to
ppcncia;c, English Shera- receive foreign guests.
r ro ilepplcwhite and The old State, War 8h century French turn;Navy Building, (nov the Ex-
ture call be made to fit into ecutive Office Building)
modern next to the White House, a
spaces whose architects had ' jewel of glorious Americana
eom awiul motel intrors of the boisterous Ulysses S.
n mind. The scale is Grant period, could Yield
wrong, 'rile sequence in some fabulous reception
winica th rooms arc at- halls. Their _ counterpicce
ranged irons the elevator would be the Indian Treaty
hiss' to the randl hall for Room.
big state dinners, with But this is hindsight.
1 a .,arlors in between, mrhat remains to he R(!-
3 thoughtlessly- conceived. lcnowledged, and sadly, is
not even work ".. that our Secretaries of State
rht for a Shriners' convenwho launched this question
lion, 'able idea do not have much.
its ust awful to see Con- faith in the culture and de-
ret' s teasures displayed un- sign of our own time. They
cl r r there inv; ceilings, truly believe that only the
amidst GSA Office drinking 18th enury-even if faked
iounlains. The effect of a -"reflects our national his-
'ettarmin; early Amcric?an tory and culture," as Secre-
is utterly spoiled tary William P. Rogers put
d
it half covers a re
fire alarm. (7ne question still keeps
tt'
. -
e? If it ; of.
wev
crnuercd ficial policy to represent he
his-
government in a staged,
wily doesn't
ic settin?
,
airh" Colo- he government pay for it?
nhc room the The State Department and
c?ranceof the yawl White House antiques are
front of those modern ex-
panses of glass.
It Is all skillfully done, in
the proper style of the period pieces by an expert architect, Edward V.. Jones,
who' has restored historic
houses and done the same
sort or thing for the New'
York Metropolitan Museum
of Art.
But it is skillful, stylisti-
cally expert fakery-an
fl
Salurrla,y, Dec-, 9, 7W2 ... R t
900.06-
)rip ing FQunt.am
Montagu featured a vintage
car museum and an antique
car model mail-order busi-
ness. The Duke of Beauford
charged extra for a peek at
his foxhounds, Some ladies
of the manor extract a fee
for tea.
Perhaps Conger could per-
suade President Nixon per-
sonnlly to sell those medals
which he might autograph
with a grease pencil. There
would be no end to the
White House Historical As.
sociation's Income potential,
if the pandas, those cuddly
gifts from China, were to he
displayed at the White
House Rose`Garden where
they could be viewed for a
$10 admission, say.
Tea with the First Lady
should fetch at least 10
times that s:mouot, with
extra charge when Trio
serves the sugar.
Absurd?
Well, isn't tha whr,;g f
Lion of turning govcrnme
state rooms into period m
scums a little absurd?
I am afraid it is, even if
hard-pressed; civil serval
does it with exceptional d
votipn and expertise,
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t
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(Thi
Approved For Release 02/ 1/08CIA
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