"Today came news that the cutting-edge warehouse, opened by the real estate firm Carye Equities for a reported $40 million and managed by shipping industry experts, is shutting down for good."

 ARCIS -- once described as "a tax-free zone in search of a tax" -- has closed down. Eileen Kinsella has the story here.

And speaking of Deaccessioning Hall of Fame Scholar-in-Residence Brian Frye ...

 ... an interesting conversation between him and another friend of the blog, artist/lawyer Alfred Steiner, at Brian's excellent Ipse Dixit podcast. Here's a good recent example of a Steiner project -- a Public License for Criminal Use.

The other big deaccessioning story ... (UPDATED)

 ... is that the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse is deaccessioning a Jackson Pollock -- estimated at $12-18 million -- and will use the proceeds to diversify its collection. The Baltimore Museum did something similar a couple years ago.

I would have guessed that, because the sales proceeds are being used to buy more art (among other reasons), this would be non-controversial, but surprisingly (to me at least) it's been met with a good deal of criticism. Both Christopher Knight and Lee Rosenbaum have come out strongly against it.

In response to Knight's piece, Deaccessioning Hall of Fame Scholar-in-Residence Brian Frye tweets: "Christopher Knight, the Inspector Clouseau of the Deaccessioning Police, now has a bee in his bonnet about the Everson Museum selling a Pollock in order to diversify its collection. Amusingly, he can't even invoke the (meaningless) AAMD deaccessioning rules, which expressly allow museums to sell works in order to buy different works. All he can do is whine that the museum is selling a work he happens to like in order to buy something else. Tell me more about how 'diversity is important, but...'?"

Everson Director Elizabeth Dunbar says:

"The murder of George Floyd and a string of senseless killings of Black lives have propelled us into urgent discussions surrounding the Museum’s role and responsibility in fighting racism inside and outside our walls. Now is the time for action. By deaccessioning a single artwork, we can make enormous strides in building a collection that reflects the amazing diversity of our community and ensure that it remains accessible to all for generations to come."

In response, Knight says this approach -- selling work "to the highest bidder [as a] way to bring racial and gender equity to the institution going forward" -- is "balderdash. The Everson would need to unload half of its collection for it to reflect the diversity of a city that is 45% nonwhite, according to the most recent census estimate." He also says the trend of museums "sell[ing] art by blue-chip white artists to create a diversity acquisition fund" is a "terrible" one: "The goal of diversifying white patriarchal patterns of museum art collecting is hugely important. This sort of quick fix belies the seriousness."

UPDATE: A local response to Knight here.

"It is the kind of sale that once would have engendered criticism, perhaps even sanctions .... But it is now completely within the parameters of loosened regulations ...."

I've been behind on my blogging the last few weeks, but the big news of course was the announcement by the Brooklyn Museum that it would be selling 12 works -- including paintings by Cranach, Courbet and Corot -- to raise funds for the care of its collection.

As the Times article points out, the Museum is the first major institution "to take advantage of" the (temporary) change in the AAMD's deaccessioning guidelines, announced in April.

One point I haven't made before about that change is how it completely undermines the public trust argument against deaccessioning. If you really believe that a museum holds its collection in the public trust -- as if the museum is the trustee and the public is the beneficiary -- then how does a change in policy by some third-party organization release the works from the public trust? Where does the AAMD get that power? Who made it the arbiter of what is or is not held in public trust?

The other thing that undermines the public trust argument against deaccessioning, as I've said a million times here before, is that museums sell works all the time, so obviously they can't be held in the public trust. If the Museum in this case had announced it was selling the same 12 works and putting the sales proceeds in a bank account labeled "acquisition fund," no one would have batted an eye. But using the same proceeds to care for its collection brings out the usual ritual denunciations.

"Mr. Brand speculated that this painting was chosen precisely because it had been stolen before, and thieves assumed it 'must be important.'"

 NYT:  17th-Century Dutch Painting Is Stolen. Again.

"According to a lawsuit filed in federal court Friday, Frederick 'Hank' Robar is requesting no less than $7 million in damages from the village as the infamous 15-year dispute over his 'toilet gardens' enters its likely most contentious chapter to date."

There's a headline for you. Story here.

One of his claims is under VARA.

What Happens If Your Gallery Goes Belly Up?

 Tom and Charles Danziger explain.

"The style we’re after is very much inspired by your work and that of other artists like Steven Paul Judd and Frank Hyde"

 The Art Newspaper:  Redbone music video sparks artist dispute over copyright infringement.

Another example having to do with the scope of protection for an artist's style (as opposed to a specific work).

"All buyers must also sign a contract with extensive conditions. They must agree not to resell the work at auction for at least five years; if they do want to sell, they must give the artist right of first refusal; and, if they sell to someone else, they have to give 15 percent of the upside back to the artists."

A contractual resale royalty is in place for "'Say It Loud (I’m Black and Proud),' an online selling exhibition at Christie’s that opened on July 31 and is dedicated to the promotion of Black art."

Arlene Dávila tweets: "Great example of how curators can advocate for artists' resale royalty rights. Let's stop the speculation & the unequal model where only collectors/speculators benefit from the evaluation of artists' works."

The Christopher Sprigman view of this would be that it will to some extent suppress the price buyers are willing to pay for the works in the auction (i.e., that you would pay for more for an asset that comes with no strings attached than you would for the same asset with these conditions).

Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento: "One thing that really annoys me is how articles like this get written with absolutely no mention of well-known historical precedents, like Robert Projansky’s and Seth Siegelaub’s The Artist’s Reserved Rights Transfer And Sale Agreement, from 1971. God forbid there would be any mention of Hans Haacke or Michael Asher."

A while back, musician and art collector Swizz Beatz had a proposal for an auction house-based resale royalty scheme, mentioned here.

"The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is suing the architects who planned its warehouse expansion five years ago, alleging they failed to design a structure that would prevent condensation from occurring inside that could damage artwork and other precious items."

 Buffalo News story here.

"A Brooklyn Art-Storage Company Is Suing Art Dealer Fergus McCaffrey for Allegedly Failing to Pay His $145,000 Bill"

 artnet news story here.

"Staten Island artist Scott LoBaido has a lawyer and is ready to take on the de Blasio administration in court if the Department of Transportation continues to pressure him to remove his thin blue line outside of the 122 precinct."

The artist says he "painted the blue line as a way to stand in solidarity with the NYPD after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would paint 'Black Lives Matter” street murals across the five boroughs on the heels of nationwide racial injustice protests." His lawyer argues: "Cites can do one of two things, they can either paint nothing and take no position, or they can allow everybody to paint … their own political points of view on the streets. But they can’t selectively say ‘my political opinion is going to be allowed to be painted and yours is not, and if you paint yours, you’re going to be subject to fines, penalty, imprisonment."

"In a statement to the Daily News, he said: 'It may be left over from my divorce, but I don’t have such a bill.'"

 "Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and attorney to Donald Trump, has been hit with a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court by an art advisor who says he failed to pay for her appraisal services, which he received during his contentious divorce from Judith Nathan in 2019.  The advisor, Miller Gaffney, runs the firm MGAA. She is alleging that Giuliani owes more than $15,700 for services rendered."

"An Italian court was weighing whether to press charges, CNN reported on Wednesday."

 NYT:  Tourist Posing With 200-Year-Old Sculpture Breaks Its Toes.

"Art Companies Jostle for Ownership of Basquiat Painting in New Inigo Philbrick–Related Lawsuit"

The latest, from Alex Greenberger at ARTnews, here.

"Doubting Gauguin"

Sebastian Smee in the Washington Post: An amateur detective takes on the National Gallery, and the art world.

"G&M’s petition is the first direct challenge to VARA’s constitutionality, and the Supreme Court’s response to the petition should be closely watched by property owners—including retail stores that may commission street art to adorn their retail space, as well as the art world generally."

5Pointz Owner Seeks SCOTUS Review of VARA. Background here.

Yet another mural dispute

This one in Oslo.

"But just as one mural controversy is ending, another is beginning."

Another mural-related VARA dispute. Story here.

This one may have a statute of limitations complication: "Carrera says the city violated the statute when it installed the parade mural in 2012. She says she never waived her rights to her painting in writing, a requirement of the law."

"The report said the financial transactions were enabled by the secrecy and anonymity with which the art market operates and it called for tighter rules to force greater transparency." (UPDATED)

New York Times: Senate Report: Opaque Art Market Helped Oligarchs Evade Sanctions.

UPDATE: A deep-dive from Tim Schneider, which ends up here: "The Senate report shows how complicated it can be to unmask the end client when shell companies, anonymous trusts, and legit-on-the-surface intermediaries are involved. Intense due diligence also conflicts with the volume and speed of business they need to do to break even, let alone turn a profit."