Major restoration project: historical Hudson Valley bidets

Benjamin Braddock Philanthropy and Charitable Giving Expert

The Community Works program has directed most of its funds and efforts towards the launching of its “Culture Scrub” project in order to preserve and refurbish the historic collection of bidets in the Hudson Valley. Project supervisors have pointed to a local need to “sandblast” the “undercarriage of history.” A few of the major pieces they will focus their efforts on are listed below.

The Edna St. Vincent Millay Bidet
Although half of the famous poet’s Gilded Bidet was recovered in near mint form from the basement of Jewett, the other half was only recently found in the prop storage of The Cherry Lane Theater in NYC’s Greenwich village in total disuse since Villay’s failed translation of Marquis De Sade’s one act play, A Time to Smear was staged there.

The Mary McCarthy Bidet
Not only is this one of a kind, hand sculpted, granite bidet a site for the eyes, it marked a turning point in lavatory capabilities. After a particularly heated phone exchange with Hannah Arendt, Mcarthy came home and pronounced that she needed to ”wash herself of the whole affair” and began fiddling with her precious, precious bidet. The result was that she managed to produced the first “rim” function on her bidet, since becoming a standard amenity on all bidets.

The Lucy Maynard Salmon Bidet
The side of Vassar historian’s porcelain piece bears an indigo inscription of her famous dictum, “Go to the Source.”

“Bidet” by Anish Kapoor
This seminal installation piece by the famed conceptual artist will grace the Dia:Beacon for the next three years thanks to the support of the Community Works program. The piece consists of a 400 foot fire hose suspended from the ceiling of the cavernous museum.