MEMPHIS, Tenn — A portrait of President Andrew Jackson that hung in the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art has been pulled from display for the first time in decades.
The museum made the decision to pull the display due to the complicated history of Tennessee's first President, but with the intention to create a civil conversation around doing it.
The Andrew Jackson portrait was painted in 1833 by Ralph E.W. Earl.
Executive Director Emily Neff said the decision to pull the portrait from display was made as a staff following the events of the summer and 2020: the murder of George Floyd, protests and a nation divided.
“It seemed like a good time to take a break," Neff said. "Let’s have a timeout. Let’s take the portrait down and let’s ask the public to share opinions about this portrait and as you might imagine the comment book is extraordinary.”
In place of the portrait, a label was put up outlining Jackson's history as a man and as a president. It also included their decision to remove it and asked people to weigh in on a series of questions in a comment book such as: what people though about the decision, how can the museum tell stories through art in the future?
“I think art museums are at their best when they don’t tell people what to think but that they shape or they ask questions that people can respond to,” she said.
The comment book is full page after page of varying opinions by museum visitors. Some celebrated the decision while others were outright mad.
"You see the range of opinion from keep it down, never put it back up to you’re acting like Stalin, put it back up and give it some context," Neff said.
Jackson's history paints a complicated picture.
He was the co-founder of the City of Memphis, a war hero and the first president from Tennessee known as the "Common Man President" who was against elitism.
Historians also say he was a slave owner who made a high profit off of enslaved people who also forced Native people from their homes along what's known as the "Trail of Tears" that was responsible for the deaths of thousands.
“You have to put perspective on everything and just let all of those range of opinions land and we’re listening," Neff said.
Neff said they'll use the comments to shape any potential future display of the portrait and how the museum can add context to it.
Additionally, the museum has a current exhibit called Memphis Artists in Real Time that presents Memphis photojournalists Johnathan “Malik” Martin who captured photographs from March through protests and the presidential election of November 2020.
