Wednesday, February 02, 2011

"The largest sale of works from its collection in a half century"

Steven Litt: "The Cleveland museum's sale -- the end result of a process known as 'deaccessioning,' barely raised an eyebrow in the art world."

This is as predicted. As long as a museum announces that the sales proceeds will be used (someday) to buy more art, you might get some mild criticism from one lonely member of the deaccession police. But you won't get lectures about raiding the public trust . . . or worries about disincentives to giving . . . or politicians railing against massive transfers of art into private hands. Nothing to see here. Move along.