Saturday, March 24, 2018

A surprise addition to the anti-anti-deaccessioning crowd

Martin Gammon (mentioned recently here), who now says (see comments):

"I have no complaint with the marketplace, and in fact think it is an important part of the equation. I also do not doubt that a case remains for Berkshire to deaccession some works to salve their chronic deficits. I just think that the wholesale decimation of all of the highpoints in the collection is simply not justified on that premise alone, and that a) there is a more narrowly focused selection that can be justified on curatorial grounds, and b) there is no reason why these could not be offered to other museums first, if the sale is proven necessary by an independent financial review."

There's room for that view in our crowd.