‘A national emergency’: As Trump goes after the arts, many museums remain silent

When Amy Sherald, one of the United States’ foremost contemporary painters, canceled a major exhibition of her work at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in July, it sent shockwaves through the art world.

The decision followed a dispute with curators over how to display a painting that reimagined the Statue of Liberty as a Black, trans woman. Sherald cited censorship, which she later claimed in an op-ed had “ taken hold” of the federally funded Smithsonian, cautioning that “history shows us” what happens when governments demand loyalty from cultural institutions.

Sherald’s cancelation is just one warning sign of strife at the Smithsonian as the Trump administration takes unprecedented steps to tighten its grip over the eminent museum network. Aiming to eradicate “improper id