Trump-Ousted Kennedy Center Chairman Buys Removed Shapiro Sculpture
Billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein has purchased Joel Shapiro’s 24-foot-tall sculpture Blue (2019) for a reported $2 million after the National Park Service removed it from the John F. Kennedy Center’s REACH campus on September 2. According to the New York Times, Rubenstein plans to install the work in the National Gallery of Art’s sculpture garden, following public criticism of the deinstallation by artists and groups including Hands Off the Arts. Blue was gifted by Shapiro—who died in 2025—as a prominent landmark when the REACH expansion opened in 2019, a project to which Rubenstein pledged $50 million. Rubenstein, a Biden appointee, was ousted from the Kennedy Center board in February 2025 after President Donald Trump replaced board members and made himself chairman.
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This story was covered in Repatriation Reckonings and High-Stakes Art Heists