The Guggenheim’s Scapegoat: an analysis

Helen Lewis’s 2022 article ‘The Guggenheim’s Scapegoat’ utilises a descriptive lead in conjunction with an anecdotal style to examine the qualms of an institutional breakdown after unfounded claims of racism emerged against the Chief Curator at Guggenheim Museum, Nancy Spector.

The article’s structure begins to chronologically tell the events of Nancy Spector’s castigation by describing the historical and political events that precede—from Donald Trump’s inauguration, through the momentous Black Lives Matter movement, and finally to the rivalry between “fierce and direct” curator Chaédria LaBouvie and a “shy” but “rather serious” Spector.  The somewhat oxymoronic opening hook, “defacement is a beautiful painting—and an ugly one” illustrates that Lewis is assertive in her claim, making the reader question how Lewis will substantiate this claim throughout the feature.

Lewis routinely unveils the juxtaposition of two ideas presented by a rhetorical question, thus prompting an internal, empathetic response from the reader. This observation is brought to fruition when Lewis asks what the greater defacement is between the two, “writing on a subway wall” or “the police brutality that wipes out young black men’s lives?” Lewis continues to invite curiosity in asking how a “simple offer, over a simple painting”, led to a “spectacular destruction” of Spector’s career. This is followed by the method of hypophora, wherein Lewis explains the “powerful” have the tendency to dump their errors on Guggenheim’s very own scapegoat—Spector.

This question-and-answer format is diligently used by Lewis to state obvious inquiries the reader has, which in turn allows her to dismantle the extreme liberal values that pervade these “stiff” institutions that result in “individual firings and forced resignations”. The article is digestible and readable due to the formatting of shorter paragraphs and varying sentences. Sentences throughout Lewis’s prose are concise, such as “LaBouvier comes across as sharp and direct” and “but soon things began to go wrong”.

Other elements of feature writing, including anecdotes, are introduced to purport the argument at hand. According to Lewis, the termination of Spector’s position at the Guggenheim is unjust due to misdemeanours committed such as not signalling their dismay towards Trump’s presidency despite voicing their “horror”. Guggenheim is also known to immediately transition into new leadership despite its tendency to impede the “potential for systemic restructure”.

Lewis presents the narrative technique of scene-setting by examining the gentrification of establishments akin to the Guggenheim. America’s greatest museums are said to be “beset by the same sins” as well as boards composed of “old-money elites”, evoking the image of upper-class families. Research is brought to the forefront as Lewis mentions the statistic that only “4 per cent of American curators were black”.

Research has been undertaken on Lewis’s behalf to cultivate a robust understanding of the political pretexts that catalysed the friction between Spector and LaBouvie. This information has confirmed that Spector never discriminated against LaBouvie due to her race, and Guggenheim was forced to “mollify” LaBouvie due to her temper. Lewis mentions the statistic that only “4 per cent of American curators were black”. Ample characterisation is applied; Spector is established as a virtuous woman of “tiny stature”, a “black-clad hummingbird” while LaBouvie is merely described as a “dissenter”. Despite publicly condemning Guggenheim, Lewis doesn’t characterise LaBouvie in a bad light. This fortifies the author’s angle as being in support of Spector as the independent investigation concluded no racial discrimination towards LaBouvie.

The Guggenheim’s Scapegoat presents the dire consequences made possible by virtue of cancel culture and how this may drive institutions to become overtly political and hollow.

This analysis was an assignment for my ‘Features and Storytelling’ minor, you can find Helen Lewis’ article here.