Hilarie Sheets in the New York Times on the different responses in the art world to the announced sales by the Brooklyn Museum and the Baltimore Museum of Art: "If the disparate reactions to the two sales are a bit bewildering, welcome to the world of deaccessioning."
She mentions the following as possible explanations for the different reactions. In Brooklyn, "the [financial] need was acute." They were (according to their director) "extremely conservative" in their selection of objects for sale: the Monet, for example (the sale included works by Monet, Matisse, and Miró), was "not one of his great works nor close to the best in our collection." The museum "has been cautious in how the money would be allocated in its collection’s care fund. 'We didn’t just say, "Here’s all the salaries for the conservators"; we estimated the time they would actually spend caring for an object.'"
Baltimore, on the other hand, "had a balanced budget and no layoffs or furloughs." The intention of the sale is "to raise funds for more equity-based initiatives at [the] museum — in a city with a 68 percent Black population," to "acquire more work by underrepresented artists and to create an endowment for collection care that would free up about $2.5 million in the budget for staff-wide pay increases and other equity-oriented measures." Arnold Lehman, a former director of both museums, is quoted as saying the works involved are "masterpieces — as good as you’re going to get of late Warhol, as good as you’re going to get of Marden and a fabulous Still.” The Still, "a gift of the artist who lived in Maryland late in his life, is also the only work of his in the collection."
Sheets says the AAMD "expressed no concerns at first" -- "'They are in line with how A.A.M.D. has defined this resolution for this period of time,' its executive director, Christine Anagnos, said at the time of the announcement" -- but "the blowback was swift from art critics, historians and museum professionals." She quotes from the resignation letter of a former board chairman (and now honorary trustee), Charles Newhall III, who says "I certainly do not believe that one sells masterpieces to fund diversity," and another former trustee who opposes "taking what seems to be a shortcut approach to monetize the art instead of doing the more difficult work of fund-raising and development."
She ends, however, by quoting Rev. Dr. Alvin C. Hathaway Sr., of the Union Baptist Church in Baltimore, who asks “Is the value in the art or is the value in the accessibility of others to have access to the art and to have their art valued as well?," and she gives the last word to Christopher Bedford, Baltimore's director:
"As an institution, we value the perspectives of colleagues and understand the importance of adhering to the professional guidelines that govern our field. I do believe, though, that the moment has come to more deeply consider the standards by which museums operate. The turmoil we are experiencing is not simply financial; it is the result of entrenched systems that cannot sustain the moment or the future. Our communities are calling us to action, to move beyond words and symbols."
