Review of Michele Bogart's "Municipal Decay"

The New Criterion, February 2025

Taber Sears mural, NYC Council Chambers **

In her incisive article Municipal Decay, published in the February 2025 issue of The New Criterion, Michele H. Bogart turns a discerning eye to the slow unraveling of municipal cultural stewardship, using the saga of the neglected Taber Sears mural in New York City’s Council Chambers as an emblem of a broader institutional malaise. As a scholar deeply attuned to the nexus of art, politics, and public space, Bogart does more than lament the physical decay of the artwork—she elucidates a troubling decline in civic attentiveness, bureaucratic willpower, and cultural literacy among public officials.

At first glance, the approval, restoration, or respectful curation of municipal artworks might seem a relatively modest administrative task, certainly less consequential than negotiating bilateral trade agreements or passing a national budget. Yet Bogart compels us to question why, in a nation capable of orchestrating the complexities of international diplomacy or managing a $6 trillion federal budget (however imperfectly), such seemingly simpler matters are allowed to languish.

The answer lies not only in bureaucratic fragmentation or political inertia but also in a civic culture that has gradually deprioritized the enduring symbols of public virtue and shared memory. Here, Bogart’s critique transcends aesthetics: she indicts a governance ethos that increasingly treats art as expendable, cultural heritage as inconvenient, and municipal responsibility as optional.

Yet this decay also draws attention to a paradox embedded in the American constitutional system: the very friction and procedural rigor designed to prevent rash, centralized decision-making can sometimes stymie even beneficial action. The checks and balances envisioned by Madison and Hamilton, while indispensable in restraining tyranny and safeguarding liberty, also introduce a structural tension that complicates governance at all levels.

But this is precisely the tension that protects us. The system is not infallible—far from it—but its imperfections serve a greater purpose: to forestall the caprices of demagogues, to dilute the passions of the moment, and to preserve space for deliberation. Without these constitutional constraints, our national discourse—already strained—would risk descending into arbitrariness and expediency.

Bogart’s article reminds us that good governance is not simply about efficiency or technical administration. It is about remembering that public art is not mere decoration; it is a reflection of the polity’s soul. That we struggle to preserve such reflections is cause for concern. That we possess a constitutional architecture resilient enough to weather these failings is cause for hope.

In Municipal Decay, Bogart compels us not only to reevaluate our aesthetic priorities but to consider how civic neglect is both a symptom and a warning. Her voice is not just that of an art historian, but of a conscientious citizen—urging us to remember that the health of a republic can be read in its willingness to honor what it has built.

** Image copyright The New Criterion used here for commentary under fair use. Original article "https://newcriterion.com/article/municipal-decay/">Municipal Decay by Michele H. Bogart