Why small-town Arkansas is the perfect home for a major art museum

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art officially opened its doors on Friday after a good run of enthusiastic news coverage, including praise for its unique architecture, designed by Moshe Safdie, and for the remarkable collection that Alice L. Walton, Wal-Mart heir, has amassed.

Amid the plaudits, however, there was obligatory mention of its “unlikely” location: Bentonville, Ark.

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With a mix of bemusement, condescension and occasional disgust, outside observers remarked on the treasure trove of fine art that would be far away from the country’s major metropolitan areas. Even when the concept received a nice pat on the head (“After all, people in the middle of the country should get to see some good art too,” Rebecca Solnit wrote for the Nation), there was an underlying sense that this great cultural resource somehow doesn’t belong here — that it is being wasted on hicks who won’t appreciate it and therefore don’t deserve it.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Crystal Bridges resides in the region that has come to define American culture, and the South is exactly where our nation’s most ambitious new cultural institution belongs.

In fact, the idea that Arkansans would not recognize the value of Crystal Bridges was being disproved before it even opened. Last month the museum announced that it had already enrolled nearly 5,000 members.

And why should great art reside mainly in big coastal cities? Is it because that is where a lot of wealth is concentrated? If so, why was so much criticism leveled against Walton, who conceived and developed Crystal Bridges, for using her family fortune to wield considerable power in the art market and bring so many significant works to Arkansas?

Is it because those cities are big population centers? Actually, the country has seen a significant population shift; according to census data, the center of our national population over the past 220 years has moved in an almost perfect line from Washington, D.C., toward . . . yes, Bentonville. As people continue to migrate south and southwest, access to art and culture should follow.

There is a sense of entitlement among people on the East and West coasts about where fine art belongs, and they are provincial in their attitudes toward Arkansas and the South because most of them have never been here. I know this firsthand, because I grew up in New York City and came down to Arkansas when I was 17 to attend college. Almost everyone I knew outside the South thought I was crazy to move here and even crazier to stay. And, over the years, I have heard plenty of the same uninformed, snobbish ribbing about the South that has been directed toward Crystal Bridges. In response, I’ve spent countless hours explaining to friends the virtues and pleasures of living here.

This state, with a population of less than 3 million, has a long history of punching above its weight in business, politics and other categories. I believe there are quantifiable reasons why Arkansas has produced a president of the United States and the largest corporation in the world, and if you look closely, you will see that Bill Clinton and Wal-Mart manifest similar qualities — namely, an ability to compete at the highest levels without being pretentious or elitist. This lack of pretension is disarming and often their biggest asset.