BLUE’S REVENGE

Ousted Kennedy Center Boss Brings Banished ‘Blue’ to Trump’s Backyard

Trump ordered the removal of the beloved sculpture last week, with no explanation as to why.

David Rubenstein is reclaiming the Kennedy Center as it was before President Donald Trump’s takeover. The longtime chairman of the performing arts center has purchased “Blue,” a 24-foot-tall abstract sculpture that was removed from the center’s grounds last week on Trump’s orders. He plans to install it at the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden. Rubenstein—who was fired from his role last year after more than a decade, then replaced by Trump—paid more than $2 million for the work by the late artist Joel Shapiro, according to the New York Times. The Kennedy Center did not explain why it removed the artwork, noting only that a foundation dedicated to Shapiro would decide where it would go next. Rubenstein, a 77-year-old billionaire philanthropist, purchased the sculpture from the foundation, which is run by Shapiro’s daughter, Ivy. “In Joel’s mind, it was one of his greatest site-specific commissions, which celebrated joy, freedom, and creativity,” she said of the aluminum work. The sculpture’s new home is located between the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Among its more than 20 sculptures is another Shapiro work.