Editorial: The Frick makes right call rescheduling Islamic art exhibition

Exposure to other cultures is the best way to bring down the walls between them.

Particularly when things are tense, learning more about the people around us can be the best bridge to peace. Being afraid of that exposure just encourages a sense of foreignness — an idea of us versus them.

That is why The Frick Pittsburgh museum made the right call in reversing its decision to indefinitely postpone an exhibit featuring historic Islamic art.

The move was initially in response to the tensions over the Israel-Hamas war. It’s a conflict that is exacerbating existing tensions globally.

There has been an uptick in antisemitism. A synagogue president was killed in Detroit. A 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy was murdered near Chicago, his mother unable to attend his funeral because of her own injuries. Closer to home, Pittsburgh police say they have increased patrols in the Squirrel Hill area in response to hateful graffiti.

So The Frick’s initial instinct made sense. Museum Director Elizabeth Barker’s reluctance to seem “insensitively superficial” was well-intentioned. However, it may have had the opposite intention, seeming to equate all Muslims with terrorist organizations.

After criticism from Muslim and Jewish groups alike, the exhibit is once again on the calendar — although the Nov. 4 date was missed and the traveling “Treasured Ornament” show will now take place in August.

One of the greatest gifts art gives people is not simply beauty. It is a way to relate to people from another time or place. That is all the more important during war and violent cultural division.

Barker also spoke of engaging with the Muslim community. That was an idea that should have been considered from the beginning.

By committing to the exhibit, even at a later date, The Frick created a doorway to understanding. There is no better way to combat hate.