Object Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Cartledge, Ned |
Title |
Knock on the Door / Citizen's Gripes |
Type of Object |
Relief |
Date |
1981 |
Medium |
Oil paint on carved wood |
Dimensions |
H-51 W-46.8 D-4 cm |
Dimension Details |
Includes painted wood frame. |
Collection |
Missoula Art Museum Collection |
MAM Sub-Collection |
Willem & Diane Volkersz Contemporary American Folk Art Collection |
How acquired |
Donated by Willem and Diane Volkersz |
Object ID |
2016.19.02 |
Statement about this object |
"This [piece] was suggested by an article I read in the newspaper about this older man in New York state. Though a Republican, he frequently called his Republican Congressman complaining about Reagan's policies after Reagan's election. Though he had never threatened the President, one day two Secret Service men appeared at his door and began questioning him; which conduct suggested the Gestapo's visits. This gave me the title and the two Gestapo-like figures. When the ACLU questioned the head of the local Secret Service office, his reply was that 'it was necessary to do this sometimes.' I searched for a quotation to fit this reply and I found the statement from William Pitt which I thought was appropriate. The fact that I was, certainly among my acquaintances, the only one who regarded this as a serious invasion of a person's rights prompted me to quote Paster Martin Niemoller: In Germany the first came for the Communists; I did not speak because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Jews; I did not speak because I was not a Jew. Then they came to fetch the workers members of trade unions; I did not speak because I was not a trade unionist. Afterward, they came for the Catholics; I did not say anything because I was a Protestant. Eventually they came for me, and there was no one left to speak. "I regard this as one of the most eloquent pleas to people of a democratic society that they must be concerned about what is happening to 'other people' if they are to maintain our democratic institutions." -from "Ned Cartledge," Atlanta: Nexus Press, 1986, p. 22 |
Subjects |
Freedom Investigations, Governmental |