Frederic Edwin Church’s “Scene on the Magdalene” was recently sold by the National Academy Museum to raise money. Image and caption via Health Care Fine Art.
Editors note: Art Fag City Plus is a new column in which interns respond to art world news, reviews and gossip.
On the subject of a New York Times article titled, Bill Would Limit How New York Museums Could Use Money From Sales of Artworks, Art Fag City intern Karen Archey has this to say:
A shortsighted article on deaccessioning work from museums to pay operating costs. The government may pass a bill that puts strict regulations on deaccessioning art, yet museums are struggling to pay their bills from a lack of government and private support. What Pogrebin didn’t mention is that oftentimes museums are “forced” to accept additional donations with major donations (like 50 of your aunt’s paintings paired with one Koons) so the donor will get additional tax write-offs. Thus, the museum has to pay the overhead for the 50 bad paintings to be able to get the Koons, but can’t deaccession them even years later because of laws like this.
Comments on this entry are closed.