Too valuable to keep
Prompted the Berkshire Museum's plans to auction off 40 works of art -- including two pieces by Norman Rockwell -- as part of a plan to raise money to refocus the museum on science and tech, Steve Barnes has an interesting look at the choices museums face when they decide to unload objects from their collections. There's a term for that process: "deaccessioning." And the Berkshire Museum's move has set off an uproar. [TU] [Berkshire Eagle]
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What has set off the protests is one word- "Rockwell". Selling off anything else- even the Frederic Church landscape- would probably not raise more than an eyebrow. A tremendous amount of sentiment is attached to Rockwell, in addition to auction value.
... said Eric Scheirer Stott on Aug 14, 2017 at 2:47 PM | link
I hope some of it stays... I really liked that one museum had photographs of civil war soldiers, a Keith Herring, and assorted animal poop. I love science and our kids could have stayed in those sections all days, but it was also really cool to see the random stuff too.
... said Melissa M on Aug 14, 2017 at 3:19 PM | link
In NYS, deaccessioning of museum collections is governed by state regulations under the State Education Department's Board of Regents, which also charters all the museums in the state. I don't know if Massachusetts is more hands off about these things. In NYS, the deaccessioning process would include reaching out to suitable nearby museums or institutions elsewhere with a deep connection to the material to offer them the objects to keep them accessible to the public. Apparently the Berkshire Museum did not confer with the Norman Rockwell Museum or the Clark before sending these art works down to Sothebys for auction where they are likely to be bid on by the ultra rich for their private collections, never to be seen again by ordinary folks. Another downside to this kind of practice is that it will make donors of valuable art or historical artifacts leery of donating to museums if they worry their donations will eventually be sold off to pay the bills.
I, for one, am getting fed up with how culture and the humanities are getting sold out (literally in this case) by the focus on STEM themes.
... said chrisck on Aug 14, 2017 at 3:49 PM | link