Baltimore Museum Withdraws Deaccession Plan 2 Hours Before Sale

By Jodie Costello

 Baltimore Museum has ‘decided to pause’ the sale of three works of art following a deaccession controversy.  

The Museum planned for Sotheby’s to auction works by Brice Marden, Clyfford Still, and Andy Warhol for a sum of $65 million. The Warhol silkscreen which resembles Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, as well as Marden and Still’s abstractions, were being sold to fund the direct care of the museum’s collections. This followed the controversial deaccession plan of 2018, in which seven works by Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Franz Kiline were auctioned in order to buy more works by women and artists of colour.  

Figure 1 The Last Supper. Andy Warhol (1986). Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas. Baltimore Museum of Art.

Figure 1 The Last Supper. Andy Warhol (1986). Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas. Baltimore Museum of Art.

This news follows a large number of deaccessioning plans that aim to aid in the survival of Museums during COVID-19. Such actions were catalysed by the lifting of the rule imposed by the AAMD stating that works of art could only be sold if the purpose was to acquire more artworks. Brooklyn Museum is but one example of an institution that has amassed millions after rounds of deaccessioning, including works by Monet, Debuffet, Degas, and Matisse. Such increased interest in private auctioneering in order to fund new collections, as well as museum care, may have a worrying impact on the public collections of museums worldwide.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alex Greenberger, ‘Artists Adam Pendleton, Amy Sherald Resign from Baltimore Museum Board as Deaccessioning Nears in ArtNews, 2020. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/adam-pendleton-amy-sherald-baltimore-museum-board-resignations-1234574980/

Alex Greenberger, ‘Baltimore Museum Deaccessioning Controversy, Explained: Why a Plan to Sell $65M. in Art Ignited Debate’ in ArtNews, 2020. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/baltimore-museum-deaccessioning-controversy-explained-1234575222/

Alex Greenberger, ‘Baltimore museum of Art Calls of Controversial Deaccession Plan Hours Before Sale’ in ArtNews, 2020. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/baltimore-museum-of-art-deaccession-called-off-sothebys-1234575295/

Asma Naeem and Katy Siegel, ‘Baltimore museum of Art curators respond to deaccessioning criticism’ in The Art Newspaper, 2020. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/bma-curators-letter-response-to-deaccessioning

Ben Luke and Margaret Carrigan, ‘The great museum sell-off: should public collections deaccession to survive Covid-19?’ in The Art Newspaper, 2020. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/podcast/the-great-museum-sell-off-is-it-right-to-sell-art-from-public-collections

Katya Kazakina, ‘Baltimore Museum Withdraws Paintings From Sotheby’s Collection’ in Bloomberg, 2020. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-28/baltimore-museum-withdraws-paintings-from-sotheby-s-auction

Nancy Kenney, ‘Brooklyn Museum Steams Ahead on Deaccessioning’ in The Art Newspaper, 2020. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/brooklyn-museum-steams-ahead-on-deaccessioning

Tyler Green, 2020. https://twitter.com/TylerGreenBooks/status/1321572457120178178

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