Deaccessioning is a topic that is incredibly dicey to discuss. A museum’s art collection is its lifeline, and many would argue, and many feel that siphoning off a bit here or there to make ends meet is tantamount to a slow and certain death. However convincing and gut-wrenching this logic may be – it is not 100 per cent true. Because as we all know, (and as I odiously remind readers) money makes the world – and museums – go ’round.

Art critic and cultural writer Judith H. Dobrzynski discussed, and supported deaccessioning in a recent New York Times op-ed, The Art of the Deal,

Many people don’t understand the problem. If the choice is between allowing a museum to fail (or make crippling cutbacks) and selling some art, what’s the big deal? Sell art! Most museums, after all, hold many works they have no room to display and stuff them into back rooms and off-site storage facilities. If museums are allowed to cull their collections to raise money to buy more art, why can’t they sell those very same pieces to solve their financial problems?

I agree with Ms. Dobrzynski – the choice seems to be very simple to me. If interested in the ensuing debate, she has posted a rebuttal to many common objections here. The main concerns seem to be with the idea that once deaccessioning begins – what is to stop it from happening ad nauseum? I have a difficult time believing pandemonium would ensue simply because deaccessioning was allowed – but then again – I’m wholly uninformed of the history, administration, and legal issues of running museums.

However, I tend to agree with Ms. Dobrzynski’s idea that the strictest form of the deaccessioning rule could be lessened. Perhaps it could be based on some overall financial metric such as – “If the museum hasn’t paid it’s bills for a period of 60 days, deaccessioning is allowed with board majority approval.” Or something. I’m not a lawyer nor have I any experience with museum administration – so I cannot say how realistic or lawful such a clause is, but I cannot imagine it would be impossible.

Tags: Add new tag, Art Museums, Arts and Entertainment, Fundraising, Judith H. Dobrzynski, New York Times

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 5:30 am and is filed under Art, Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.