Picasso's alarm installer

Another really interesting story from over the weekend: a 71-year old retired electrician seems to have ended up with nearly 300 works by Picasso. He claims they were a gift from the artist. The Picasso estate has filed a lawsuit in France, claiming the works were stolen.

The New York Times story is here.

Tyler Cowen headlined his post: How willing are you to believe another human being?

The Village Voice went with: Pablo Picasso's Electrician Was Either Very Lucky or Very Sneaky.

New York magazine says: "maybe Picasso just really, really valued his electrician?"

Tom Flynn: "how many Picasso drawings does it take to change a light bulb?" (Nice one!)

And lawprof Jonathan Turley sizes up the legal claims:

"The man worked for Picasso in the 1970s and this could create a fascinating contest over credibility if [he] has no written record. The absence of any prior disclosure certainly makes the claim somewhat suspicious. Such cases can become the ultimate jury question — with members looking at the practices of the artist. It is quite common for many artists to give away their works, even as payment for services. This number of paintings, however, would represent a lot of work or a lot of friendship. . . . Picasso died a few years later and was already an international superstar in the art field. This was not some starving painter trading paintings for baguettes. Moreover, it is hard to see how much of a friendship could have developed over the course of the installation of a security system. Of course, there is always the possibility that Picasso was simply eccentric and a bit daffy in his final years. Anyway it goes, it should make for an interesting tort or criminal case or both."

"The basic principle of museums in exceptional circumstances liquidating their collections is a principle that we have embraced since 2007 ..."

". . . and the world hasn’t come to an end."

Lots to catch up on after the holiday weekend -- most interesting, from my point of view, this article in The Art Newspaper. The lede is that "leading international museum directors" have "restated their opposition" to sales from public collections "when the proceeds are used for 'anything other than acquisitions or the direct care of the collection.'" But the really interesting news is further down:

1. First, we learn that "the UK Museums Association (MA) has relaxed its ethical stance from a hard-line presumption against disposal to one that accepts that works of art might be sacrificed for the greater good of a collection. 'The basic principle of museums in exceptional circumstances liquidating their collections is a principle that we have embraced since 2007,' said Maurice Davies, the MA’s head of policy, 'and the world hasn’t come to an end.'"

This strikes me as enormously important, for at least two reasons.

One, the anti-deaccessionists in the U.S. have turned the debate into a moral crusade. The idea that "works of art might be sacrificed for the greater good of a collection" is not just mistaken, it's repulsive. Stalinist. An egregious violation of public trust.

But are we really willing to say the UK Museums Association is repulsive?

Or might it be the case that this is a difficult issue and reasonable people (or reasonable museum associations) might have different views as to what is or isn't appropriate?

In other words: can we take it down a notch, please?

The other reason it's important is that the anti-deaccessionists are always telling us that, if we allow sales in exceptional circumstances, the sky will fall. Letting one museum sell off one or two paintings paves the way for dozens of museums to sell off thousands of artworks, perhaps routinely. If we let even one go, even to keep a museum from closing its doors, there will be nothing left. They'll sell them all.

But here we have a natural experiment: the UK has allowed operating expense deaccessioning since 2007, and what's the verdict?

"The world hasn’t come to an end." Thousands of artworks haven't been sold off. There are still one or two left.

It's worth keeping an eye on.

2. The other thing worth mentioning is that one of the proposals floating around out there is "to create an expert panel that would review proposed deaccessions." Judith Dobrzynski made a similar proposal not too long ago.

"The fate of the museum's permanent collection ... remains unclear."

The Wall Street Journal reports that the end is near for the Chelsea Art Museum.

"The ability of San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum to avoid bankruptcy may be decided this week"

The WSJ's "Bankruptcy Beat" has the details. The artwork appears to be safe:

"San Francisco owns the ... collection of more than 17,000 pieces of art .... As a result, such assets would be exempted from a bankruptcy filing by the museum foundation. The museum foundation owns minor assets as well as $70 million in endowment money."

Yale and Peru reach tentative settlement

But not for the first time.

Donor Friendly

More on how New York's version of UPMIFA is more donor-favorable than most other states':

"In most enactments of UPMIFA, all existing donor-restricted endowments become subject to the new requirements enabling spending below [historic dollar value]. This is not the case under NYPMIFA. Each organization is required by the law to give notice to prior donors giving them the option of applying the new law. Once the donor has responded, or the donor’s right to respond has lapsed (after 90 days), the organization will need to maintain records of which endowments follow the new law, which have HDV restrictions under the old law, and which have specific donor restrictions. The notice to donors must follow specific requirements set out in the law."

Related posts here and here.

Esmerian Arrested

Ralph Esmerian, Chairman Emeritus of the American Folk Art Museum, charged with fraud.

Background here.

"It really is about ... helping artists and musicians who are contributing to society find health care at affordable rates."

Bloomberg Businessweek on an event at which artists could barter their work in exchange for medical care.

These stories always leave out one important detail.

Small and ad hoc

The New York Board of Regents is establishing "a small ad hoc committee of leaders of museums" to help produce a set of deaccessioning regulations "compatible with the accepted ethical and legal standards of the national accrediting organizations."

Those accepted ethical standards were summarized here by the NYT -- under "the code of ethics of the American Association of Museums, the proceeds should be 'used only for the acquisition, preservation, protection or care of collections,'" while the "code of the Association of Art Museum Directors is even stricter, specifying that funds should not be used 'for purposes other than acquisitions of works of art for the collection'" -- and, as I've said before, it seems to me the current Board of Regents regulations are already fully "compatible" with those standards. But let's see what the small ad hoc committee comes up with.

"All of the works on view are unattributed and unsigned."

Interesting sounding show at MCA Denver: Orphan Paintings: Unauthenticated Art of the Russian Avant-Garde:

"Orphan Paintings explores questions about the status of art. What is an authentic art experience? What precisely are we appreciating when we look at a work of art? Are we appreciating what is visible to us, or is it a range of invisible factors, such as the belief that it was made by a master artist or the opinion of experts about its authenticity? This collection of unauthenticated Russian avant-garde paintings asks: can an art experience be authentic even if the status of the work of art remains questionable? Are there other forms of authenticity aside from its attribution to an artist?"

Thanks to a loyal Art Law Blog reader for the tip.

In the public trust

In the midst of a post on the announcement of the opening date of the Crystal Bridges Museum, Lee Rosenbaum mentions that one of the works in its collection used to belong to the Corcoran:

"The D.C. museum had included it in several special exhibitions (scroll down)---most recently in its 2004-2005 show of 'The Human Form in American Art'---before deeming it expendable."

But that must be a misprint. After all, it's a very core principle that museums hold their works in trust for our community. You know, once an object falls under the aegis of a museum, it is held in the public trust, to be accessible to present and future generations. Everyone knows that.

So I'm sure it's all just a big misunderstanding and Lee will be running another major correction in the coming days.

"The proposal would essentially eliminate the charitable tax deduction."

"In its place, all donations made by federal taxpayers would qualify for a 15-percent tax credit. But instead of that credit going to the taxpayer, it would be given to the charity receiving the donation in the form of a matching grant from the Internal Revenue Service."

Gives new meaning to the phrase "photographic memory"

Artist and NYU professor Wafaa Bilal is having a camera surgically implanted in the back of his head for several months for an art project. Kate Taylor's NYT story is here. More from the WSJ's Erica Orden here. Jonathan Turley notes a legal issue that has arisen: "Does he need the consent of students in class who will be captured by his head camera? As a result of objections, Bilal has agreed to cover the camera with a black lens cap while on university property."

It's not Bilal's first campus controversy.

Linkage

• Sculpture impounded.
• Duped dealer buys back fake.
• Another review of "Stealing the Mystic Lamb."

"After much fretting over the loss of three art collections to the dispersal effect of the art market last week . . ."

". . . Los Angeles is now celebrating the endowment-enhancing power of the self-same art market."

"A picture is emerging of one of the most bizarre cases of deception in art history."

The Guardian explains.

"If the Met and Brooklyn had nothing to hide, they shouldn't have hidden it."

Lee Rosenbaum issues "a major correction" regarding the transfer of the Brooklyn Museum's costume collection to the Met a couple of years ago. I wrote about the deal here. (See also here.)

Perhaps it wasn't what it initially seemed, but so long as any sales proceeds aren't used for operating expenses, it shouldn't be controversial under the Standard View on deaccessioning.

From my point of view, it's just another example of how the hypocrisy built into that Standard View -- sales to buy more art, totally fine; sales for any other reason, repulsive -- leads people to do a lot of funny things.

NOW the Warhol litigation is done with Joe Simon (UPDATED)

The New York Law Journal reports (but I can't find a free link at the moment) that the Warhol Foundation antitrust litigation is over. The plaintiffs drop their claims against the Foundation, and the Foundation drops its counterclaims and request for sanctions. Background here.

UPDATE: Businessweek: Warhol Foundation Wins Lawsuit With $7 Million Defense.

Admission fees for the Smithsonian?

The NYT's Kate Taylor reports that the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction proposal includes a recommendation that the Smithsonian begin charging admission fees. More here from DCist.

Matthew Yglesias says it's "a great example of a kind of pennywise and pound-foolish thinking about spending that often afflicts the political system":

"What you would ideally do with these kind of public services—be it a museum or a subway or whatever—is take a good hard look at whether or not you really believe in providing the service. And if you do, you provide it for free so that as many people as possible can benefit."

"Tax uncertainty could hurt charitable giving"

USA Today reports. One of the issues is "the uncertain outlook for the estate tax." The article notes that "a 2004 study by the Congressional Budget Office estimated that permanent repeal of the estate tax would reduce donations to charity by up to 12%."