Congress Advances “Girls Count” Legislation
On May 23, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, the Girls Count Act (S. 802). On May 21, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved their versions of the Girls Count Act, S. 802, and H.R. 2100, respectively.
Kay E. Brown, director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security, Government Accountability Office (GAO), described the fraud uncovered in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). * See page 3
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), would authorize the secretary of State and the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support programs that “contribute to improved civil registration and vital statistics systems with a focus on birth registration.” The bill finds that the lack of birth registration for girls can exacerbate women’s and girls’ vulnerability to trafficking, child marriage, lack of access to health and education services, reduced unemployment, and can inhibit their ability to purchase or inherit land and other assets, among many other issues.
The bill would “promote programs that build the capacity of developing countries’ national and local legal and policy frameworks to prevent discrimination against girls, and help increase property rights, social security, land tenure, and inheritance rights for women.” The measure also would authorize the secretary and the administrator to cooperate with multilateral organizations, such as the World Bank and the United Nations, to promote such programs.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved S. 802, as amended by substitute amendment, by voice vote; the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved H.R. 2100 by voice vote.
House Committee Approves Commerce, Justice, Science Spending Bill
On May 20, the House Appropriations Committee approved, by voice vote, the FY2016 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies passed the measure on May 14 (see The Source, 5/15/15).
According to the committee report, the bill would allocate $51.4 billion overall for FY2016. This amount is $1.3 billion above FY2015, but $661 million below President Obama’s FY2016 request. Included in this amount is $27.5 billion for the Department of Justice (DoJ)
Citing increased instances of severe harassment, stalking, and threats transmitted via the Internet, particularly against women, the committee urges DoJ to increase its efforts to combat cyber-stalking and threat crimes (p. 31).
The committee” is concerned with the ongoing sexual assault kit backlog in jurisdictions across the country.” The bill includes $41 million in the bill to address the backlog (p. 41).
The committee encourages the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to examine ways to support nonprofits and other nongovernmental entities to administer successful prevention and early intervention programs for girls vulnerable to trafficking (p. 47).
Expressing its disappointment with recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports detailing sexual misconduct and harassment by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents while on overseas assignment, the committee noted that it expects the DEA and DoJ to “close the gaps” identified in the OIG report and address employee misconduct (p. 40).
The committee encourages the International Trade Administration to ensure that it is providing suitable support and services for women-, minority- and veteran-owned firms that are seeking aid in gaining access to foreign markets for their products and services (p. 5).
During the consideration of the measure, the committee adopted, by voice vote, two amendments by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). The first amendment would add $5 million to the Department of Justice Rape Survivor Child Custody Act (P.L. 102-393) program to terminate rapists’ parental custodial rights. The second amendment would designate $1 million in funding within Missing and Exploited Children Program to hire wounded warriors to assist with these cases.
The following chart details funding for program important to women and their families.
The Revisit: Doesn’t Everyone have a Bird in Their Earring?
Roberta McReynolds Updates, May 25, 2015:
I rescued a fledging sparrow about a month ago. It had been attacked by a Scrub Jay and I literally snatched it away. Poor little thing was in shock and bleeding from her beak. I would have bet money that she was going to die within minutes.
Passer domesticus, Wikipedia
I wrapped her in a towel and warmed her up. After an hour she was still hanging in there. I found a box and lined it with more towels and tucked her inside, warming the outside of the box with one of those gizmos you heat in the microwave. She survived the night! I gave her a little water which revived her to the point she was hopping around my bathroom and make short flights. I was able to release her early that morning. I love watching all the birds in our yard and am fiercely protective of them when it comes to neighborhood cats and the occasional hawk in the yard.
See end of this 2010 essay for link to Fish and Wildlife Service’s Injured Birds’ link for FAQs*
Doesn’t Everyone have a Bird in Their Earring?
Children were walking to school, chattering to each other over the sound of their shoes scuffing across the surface of the pavement. One street over morning traffic droned past the neighborhood. The woman next door had her window open to catch a spring breeze, allowing me to eavesdrop on her favorite television game show. All normal sounds; the kind you hear so often you don’t really tune in to them. I was enjoying them, however, because they weren’t the sounds I normally heard this time of day.
I had the day off from work. Instead of the assaulting clamor of printing presses, typesetting equipment and bindery machines, I was listening to a much slower pulse while watching my young son run off to catch up with his school friends. It was a treat to stand on the front porch and feel a wave of maternal bliss swept over me; a pleasant trade for the hat I wore at work.
Maybe being in the ‘mother-zone’ had something to do with what I heard next. A faint, brief cheeping broke through the layers of human noise and caught my attention. My head turned quickly to the side of the house, waiting during the pause to pinpoint the source. More cheeping … and my ears reported to my brain that it wasn’t coming from a nest up in the branches, but from the ground. I was reluctant to step off the porch without knowing where it was safe to set my foot down.
The baby bird called out with urgency as I inched my way toward his voice. I discovered him half buried in leaves that had blown up against the house during a storm. Perhaps the same storm had tossed him out of his parents’ nest of twigs and warm downy feathers.
The bird couldn’t have been more than a day or two old; his gray skin was naked except for the tiniest bits of fluff. He was cold to the touch. So cold, I was surprised there was still enough life in him to cry for help. He responded to the warmth of my hand by settling down over his legs and pulling his head close to his shoulders. The cries of abandonment transformed into soft, regular peeps of relief mixed with exhaustion.
I looked for the nest, listening carefully and hoping to locate his parents and siblings, but without any luck. I obviously had just become a momma bird. Whatever plans I’d had for my day off had just flown out the window, so to speak.
While I carried the bird in one hand, I arranged a towel in a shoebox with the other. I placed the box over a heating pad set on low and transferred the tiny baby to my nest. He voiced his disapproval with loud, frantic cheeping. The security of my hand, contact with another living creature, was as essential as food. I scooped him back up. He and I were going to have to figure this out together.
A Memorial Day Scout Report: iWASwondering, EduBlogger, Freakonomics Radio, Plotly, WWI Visual History and a Darwin Manuscripts Tree
“Stars over Berlin and Tokyo will soon replace these factory lights reflected in the noses of planes at Douglas Aircraft’s Long Beach, Calif., plant. Women workers groom lines of transparent noses for deadly A-20 attack bombers.” Alfred Palmer, October 1942. 208-AA-352QQ-5. US National Archives and Records Administration
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Education for Global Leadership
This page from the US Department of Education lays out the case for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education. Readers will likely be interested to learn that some STEM fields are predicted to increase by a third and more this decade. Still, only 16 percent of American high school seniors are proficient in math and interested in STEM careers, and the nation suffers from a paucity of qualified math and science teachers. These facts and others can be found here, in addition to a number of interesting links that will take readers around the web, from President Obama’s plan to expand STEM education to the site for The Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education. For readers who are interested in STEM education, there is much to ponder on this interesting site.
·http://www.abmc.gov/sites/default/files/interactive/interactive_files/WW1/index.html
This attractive and edifying map-based interactive from the American Battle Monuments Commission will serve as a support to educators teaching the First World War, and to anyone with an interest in how the war began, how it developed, and how it finally ended. The history is divided into seven periods, including The Pre-War Period, each year from 1914 to 1918, and the Post-War Years. Clicking on any of these will redraw the World War I Timeline, detailing important events, campaigns, and the ebb and flow of the Allied and Central Powers. For instance, within the Prewar Years, selecting The Triple Alliance navigates to a portrait of Otto von Bismarck and a short explanation of the shaky alliance that was formed between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in 1882 to fend off France. Short video clips accompany many of the Timeline items, bringing the history of the war to life.
The Edublogger, which serves as the community blog for Edublogs and CampusPress, is designed to help educational bloggers with emerging technologies in education. For readers who don’t blog about education, there is still plenty of usable content on the site. Recent posts have included a mini how-to course on infographics, tips for getting students engaged in their classes through blogging, and a story about standardized testing in Mexico. There is even a short video that introduces inexperienced readers to the wide world of blogging, as well as sections on Blogging Resources and Educator’s Guides. This site is recommended for anyone who wants to stay up-to-date on how Internet technologies can be integrated into the classroom.
·http://www.iwaswondering.org/
This website serves as a companion piece to the Women’s Adventures in Science biography series from the National Academy of Science. It begins with a short video featuring an upbeat and ever-curious character named Lia, and expands to provide the various and intriguing careers of some of today’s prominent female scientists, including Inez Fung and Amy Vedder. While the website and series are designed for middle-school-aged students, educators and parents can get behind the message: let’s get girls involved in science. In addition to 10 Cool Scientists, kids can ask their own questions and receive an answer from an expert, or play fun and interesting activities and games, like the AstroScope, an online astronomy game.
Bring Along the Sunscreen For That Sun-bathing Weekend: Cancer-associated DNA Changes Exist in 25% of Normal Skin Cells
Sunbathing in Boracay, Philippines
Using healthy skin to identify cancer’s origins
Normal skin contains an unexpectedly high number of cancer-associated mutations, according to a study published in Science. The findings illuminate the first steps cells take towards becoming a cancer and demonstrate the value of analysing normal tissue to learn more about the origins of the disease.
The study revealed that each cell in normal facial skin carries many thousands of mutations, mainly caused by exposure to sunlight. Around 25 per cent of skin cells in samples from people without cancer were found to carry at least one cancer-associated mutation.
Ultra-deep genetic sequencing was performed on 234 biopsies taken from four patients revealing 3,760 mutations, with more than 100 cancer-associated mutations per square centimetre of skin. Cells with these mutations formed clusters of cells, known as clones, that had grown to be around twice the size of normal clones, but none of them had become cancerous.
“With this technology, we can now peer into the first steps a cell takes to become cancerous,” explains Dr Peter Campbell, a corresponding author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. “These first cancer-associated mutations give cells a boost compared to their normal neighbors. They have a burst of growth that increases the pool of cells waiting for the next mutation to push them even further.
“We can even see some cells in normal skin that have taken two or three such steps towards cancer. How many of these steps are needed to become fully cancerous? Maybe five, maybe 10, we don’t know yet.”
The mutations observed showed the patterns associated with the most common and treatable form of skin cancer linked to sun exposure, known as cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, rather than melanoma, a rarer and sometimes fatal form of skin cancer.
“The burden of mutations observed is high but almost certainly none of these clones would have developed into skin cancer,” explains Dr Iñigo Martincorena, first author from the Sanger Institute. “Because skin cancers are so common in the population, it makes sense that individuals would carry a large number of mutations. What we are seeing here are the hidden depths of the iceberg, not just the relatively small number that break through the surface waters to become cancer.”
Skin samples used in this study were taken from four people aged between 55 and 73 who were undergoing routine surgery to remove excess eyelid skin that was obscuring vision. The mutations had accumulated over each individual’s lifetime as the eyelids were exposed to sunshine. The researchers estimate that each sun-exposed skin cell accumulated on average a new mutation in its genome for nearly every day of life.
Sublclonal structure of a large clone found to overlap with six biopsies (purple areas on the eyelid – top). Mutant clones in an average 1 cm2 of normal eyelid skin. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa6806]
“These kinds of mutations accumulate over time – whenever our skin is exposed to sunlight, we are at risk of adding to them,” explains Dr Phil Jones, a corresponding author from the Sanger Institute and the MRC Cancer Unit at the University of Cambridge. “Throughout our lives we need to protect our skin by using sun-block lotions, staying away from midday sun and covering exposed skin wherever possible. These precautions are important at any stage of life but particularly in children, who are busy growing new skin, and older people, who have already built up an array of mutations.”
Recent studies analysing blood samples from people who do not have cancer had revealed a lower burden of mutations, with only a small percentage of individuals carrying a cancer-causing mutation in their blood cells. Owing to sun exposure, skin is much more heavily mutated, with thousands of cancer-associated mutations expected in any adult’s skin.
The results demonstrate the potential of using normal tissue to better understand the origins of cancer. The Cancer Genomics group at the Sanger Institute will continue this work with larger sample numbers and a broader range of tissues to understand how healthy cells transition into cancerous cells.
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High burden and pervasive positive selection of somatic mutations in normal human skin.
Science 2015
Elaine Soloway’s Rookie Widow Series: Deja Vu, Forget Him Not and California Dreaming
Déjà vu
White House Conference on Aging Forum and New Financial Coaching Initiative
President Barack Obama announces the nomination of Richard Cordray as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on July 18, 2011 with Elizabeth Warren, then interim director of the CFPB.
White House Conference on Aging Regional Forum
Cleveland, Ohio; April 2015
Prepared Remarks of Richard Cordray
Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
It is an honor to be here today alongside my colleagues who are stalwart champions of our seniors. We are here because we care about making sure that all Americans, throughout their lifespans, can have the opportunity to learn and develop skills, engage in productive work, make sound choices about their daily lives, and participate fully in the life of our communities.
We are experiencing the greying of America, with 45 million people in this country who are age 65 or older and 10,000 more who are turning 65 each day. They are our grandparents, our parents, our neighbors, our friends. And they are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. The average American is now spending about twenty years in retirement. During these years, they are active consumers. They are still taking out and making payments on mortgages; they are still borrowing to buy cars and trucks; they are still accumulating credit card debt; some are even taking out student loans on behalf of their grandchildren. These heavier debt loads, that previous generations did not have, can threaten their economic security.
We have recently come through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Many Americans were shaken in their deeply held belief that if they work hard and act responsibly, they can get ahead and retire securely. Millions lost their jobs, millions lost their homes, and almost all of us lost a substantial chunk of our life savings.
In the aftermath of the crisis, this country had to make a new beginning. The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is part of that fresh start. We are very busy addressing key problems in the consumer financial markets, and we are working to create a sustainable marketplace where informed consumers can find value in responsible business practices. Let me briefly describe three ways we are seeking to accomplish these goals.
First, we are cleaning up problems in the financial marketplace through evenhanded oversight and enforcement of the law. So far our enforcement actions have made over $5.3 billion available to millions of consumers, and we have levied hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties. We also are improving the financial markets through balanced regulation. For example, in the largest single consumer financial market in the world — the US mortgage market, worth trillions of dollars — we have adopted sweeping new rules to ensure that the excesses and irresponsible practices that brought about the financial crisis cannot be repeated. That change alone will help safeguard Americans against the kinds of economic dangers and calamities they suffered just a few short years ago.
Second, we are addressing individual problems that arise every day through our consumer response function. To date, we have addressed complaints from over 600,000 consumers. More than 50,000 of them came from consumers who told us they are age 62 or older. Through our complaint process, we have helped return millions of dollars to consumers and we have solved other problems that had been frustrating them for months or even years. Anyone who believes they were mistreated on their mortgage, auto loan, student loan, credit card, or bank account can go to our website at consumerfinance.gov to file a complaint. It is a simple and easy process and typically takes less than fifteen minutes from start to finish.
Air Bag Recall Redux For 34 Million Vehicles Worldwide: Air Bags Can Explode When Deployed, 11 Manufacturers
Takata files defect reports, enters Consent Order; NHTSA to coordinate remedy program
US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that at the Department’s insistence, air bag manufacturer Takata has acknowledged that a defect exists in its air bag inflators. Takata has agreed to a national recall of certain types of driver and passenger side air bag inflators. These inflators were made with a propellant that can degrade over time and has led to ruptures that have been blamed for six deaths worldwide. The action expands the number of vehicles to be recalled for defective Takata inflators to nearly 34 million.
Takata Airbags, Takata Corporation
Secretary Foxx also announced that the Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a Consent Order to Takata. The Consent Order requires the company to cooperate in all future regulatory actions that NHTSA undertakes in its ongoing investigation and oversight of Takata. In addition, NHTSA announced its intent to begin a formal legal process to organize and prioritize the replacement of defective Takata inflators under the agency’s legal authority.
“Today is a major step forward for public safety,” Secretary Foxx said. “The Department of Transportation is taking the proactive steps necessary to ensure that defective inflators are replaced with safe ones as quickly as possible, and that the highest risks are addressed first. We will not stop our work until every air bag is replaced.”
The actions expand regional recalls of Takata passenger-side inflators, currently limited to areas of high absolute humidity, to nationwide recalls involving more than 16 million vehicles. They also expand the current nationwide recall of driver-side inflators to more than 17 million vehicles. It’s anticipated that the remedy of vehicles will be prioritized based upon risk, with the vehicles that present the greatest risk in terms of age and geographic location to be serviced first.
“From the very beginning, our goal has been simple: a safe air bag in every vehicle,” said NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind. “The steps we’re taking today represent significant progress toward that goal. We all know that there is more work to do, for NHTSA, for the auto makers, for parts suppliers, and for consumers. But we are determined to get to our goal as rapidly as possible.”
The Department has established a new website, www.SaferCar.gov/RecallsSpotlight, to provide regular updates on the status of this and other recalls and of NHTSA’s investigation.
Testing and investigation by Takata, auto manufacturers, and independent researchers have not yet established a definitive root cause of the inflator malfunctions. NHTSA’s analysis of test results and engineering reports from independent organizations points to moisture infiltrating the defective inflators over extended periods of time as a factor.
Over time, that moisture causes changes in the structure of the chemical propellant that ignites when an air bag deploys. The degraded propellant ignites too quickly, producing excess pressure that causes the inflator to rupture and sends metal shards into the passenger cabin that can lead to serious injury or death.
The agency already has held informal discussions with auto makers and parts suppliers in an effort to coordinate one of the largest and most complex product recalls in history. NHTSA also plans to issue notice of intent to open a proceeding that would coordinate the remedy program for Takata inflators in order to address the highest risks quickly.
Click here to view NHTSA’s microsite on Takata recalls.
Click here to view the consent order.
Click to view the Takata defect notifications: 15E-040; 15E-041; 15E-042; 15E-043.
Search for open recalls with VIN look up
Download the Safercar Mobile App for Apple or Android devices
Receive recall alerts by email
Stay connected with NHTSA via:
Facebook.com/NHTSA
Twitter.com/NHTSAgov
YouTube.com/USDOTNHTSA
SaferCar.gov
NHTSA 24-15
Hunting, Angling and Recreation Monies Help Develop Fish and Wildlife Conservation
The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it will distribute $1.1 billion in revenues generated by the hunting and angling industry to state and territorial fish and wildlife agencies throughout the nation. The funds support critical fish and wildlife conservation and recreation projects that benefit all Americans.
The Service apportions the funds to all 50 states and US territories through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration and Dingell —Johnson Sport Fish Restoration programs. Revenues come from excise taxes generated by the sale of sporting firearms, ammunition, archery equipment, fishing equipment, electric boat motors, and from taxes on the purchase of motorboat fuel.
“These funds are the cornerstone of state-based efforts that are critical to the preservation of America’s wildlife and natural resources,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “But they are also the fuel for a massive financial engine that benefits outdoor recreationists, hunters, boaters and anglers, equipment manufacturers and retailers, and local and regional economies. Their value cannot be overstated in providing opportunities for the next generation of Americans to get outdoors, experience our wild places and learn the importance of conserving our natural heritage.”
Pittman Robertson-Dingell Johnson funds are distributed by the Service’s Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program. Since their inception, the programs have generated more than $15 billion to conserve fish and wildlife resources and support outdoor recreation opportunities for the American public. The recipient State fish and wildlife agencies have matched these funds with more than $5 billion over the years, mostly through hunting and fishing license revenues.
“The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program provides critical funding for conservation projects and outdoor recreation activities across this great nation,” said Assistant Director Hannibal Bolton of the Service’s WSFR program. “I can’t stress enough that the key to the program’s success is through our dedicated partnerships with State agencies, non-government organizations and many others.”
“It is thanks to this significant financial investment made by America’s sportsmen and women and the hunting, shooting sports, angling and boating industries that state and territorial fish and wildlife agencies can deliver science-based conservation on the ground,” said Larry Voyles, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies President and Arizona Game and Fish Department Director. “The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program has made the difference between the survival and abundance of some species and it helps agencies, like mine, manage a vast estate of lands and waters and connect more people to wildlife-related recreation.”
On the next page is a state-by-state listing of the Service’s final apportionment of Wildlife Restoration Funds and Sport Fish Restoration funds for Fiscal Year 2015. To learn more about the Service’s WSFR program visit: http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/.
Did I Miss Something? Belated Thoughts on a Matchmaker’s Skill
Gerard van Honthorst, The Match-Maker (1625); Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Picture a petite (under five feet) little lady with wavy grey hair tidily confined in a genteel bun. Her features are unremarkable, refined and even, in the way that a very pretty girl could be expected to age. She wears pince-nez. I remember her when she must have been in her early fifties.
It’s become a preoccupation to try to evaluate old notions of people and events from my youth, now that experience has so broadened my imagination and perspectives. Embarrassing to realize how shallow and mistaken some of my former impressions appear to be. I hope I’m not alone in that. She was nearly ten years older than my mother. They were close all their lives. The two shared a piano teacher in their youth, and I suspect it was Catharine (with an A in the middle) who engineered a meeting between my mother and the man who would become my father.
Catharine (called by everyone Mimi) was a single lady all her life, most of the adult part of which she spent living abroad in Switzerland. World War II brought her back to the US and several years spent in a residential hotel not far from where we lived in lower Manhattan. She often invited friends and my mother and me to tea. Now as I look back on these afternoons, they seem like something out of a BBC television mini series. Yet I always felt at home with Mimi.
Those were my teenage years — filled with school, the war, my after-school jobs, and a serious boy friend. It’s not surprising that a great many things escaped my notice. Mimi took an interest in me that often surprised me even then. Many of her kindnesses were gifts of unusual books. The first was a one-volume edition (boxed) of The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. I was then eleven years old, according to the date inside. Her choice mystified me. To this day I’ve merely looked at scattered pages without finding an impetus to make real use of it — something I intend to rectify forthwith.
Some time later came The Diary of Samuel Pepys. For my seventeenth birthday, she sent a single volume of The Works of Shakespeare in a soft leather cover tooled in gold. Over the years, that one has been used when larger formats were inconvenient, and I’ve always treasured it. Even at the time, I wondered if Mimi were trying to make sure I had a more liberal education than I was being offered at the really good school I attended from the first through the twelfth grades, but I didn’t dwell on the thought. Somewhere along the way, I think, Mimi understood I was captivated by literature.
War Horses: Helhesten and the Danish Avant-Garde During World War II; Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Art Tradition
War Horses: Helhesten and the Danish Avant-Garde During World War II is the first museum exhibition to focus on the Danish avant-garde group, Helhesten (The Hell-Horse). The group was established in Copenhagen in 1941 by leading modernists of the period who courageously created expressive abstract art and exhibited and published a journal together throughout the German occupation of Denmark from 1940 – 1945.
The exhibition, which examines the significance of Helhesten by exploring how and why European modern art was made during the rise of Fascism, includes 120 paintings, works on paper and sculptures by artists such as Ejler Bille (1910-2004), Henry Herrup (1907-1983), Asger Jorn (1914-1973), Carl-Henning Pedersen (1913-2007) and others, and will be on view at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale from May 17 through October 4, 2015.
Carl-Henning Pederson’s Eventyrbillede (Fairytale Picture), 1943
The artists who founded Helhesten were active in Paris and Germany before the war and were devoted to perpetuating aspects of Surrealism, Dada and German Expressionism. Their reinterpretation of these movements and interest in Nordic mythology, ethnographic objects and folk and children’s art combined to manifest a unique style during the war that included the use of brightly colored, spontaneously applied pigment to depict fantastical subjects. Many of the Helhesten artists became part of the radical post-war Cobra art movement (named after artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.)
Although the Helhesten artists worked with gestural abstraction at the same moment as the New York School artists who would later be labeled Abstract Expressionists, the Danes did not know of the Americans’ work until after the war. Unlike their American counterparts, the Danish artists rejected complete abstraction in favor of semi-figuration and whimsy in their compositions and held to a belief in the inherent value of art for everyday life. This “new realism” as they defined it, purposefully challenged the brutality of the Nazi regime and its condemnation of so-called degenerate modern art by celebrating humanistic and universal commonalities, tongue-in-cheek humor and collectivist creativity.
The exhibition includes more than 90 works from NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale’s outstanding collection of Helhesten art, which is the largest in the United States, and was donated to the museum by Meyer B. and Golda N. Marks in 1988. The exhibition also reconstructs the most important exhibition staged in Denmark during World War II, 13 Artists in a Tent, which opened on May 17, 1941.
War Horses: Helhesten and the Danish Avant-Garde During World War II is organized by NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale in partnership with the Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum, Herning, Denmark, where it will travel in 2016. Its curator is Kerry Greaves, University of Copenhagen Department of Arts and Cultural Studies Novo Nordisk Foundation Mads Øvlisen Postdoctoral Researcher.
Among the exhibition’s highlights are:
Ejler Bille’s bronze sculpture, Store maske (Large Mask), 1944, in which the artist experiments with the dynamic interplay of geometric and two- and three-dimensional forms in creating a comical, human-like figure with stubby, flat arms and feet.
Henry Herrup’s Untitled, Illustration for Jens August Schade’s Fun in Denmark (Sjov i Danmark), 1945, depicts a scene from Shade’s famous fairy-tale-like poem, Fun in Denmark. The whimsical and sensual forms convey qualities similar to those of the poem while maintaining its quality of child-like wonder.