Visit to the Rose

We (and the rest of the greater Boston area) rushed out to Waltham today to visit the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis. I'd heard that they typically get about 30 visitors today and there were definitely over 100 people there while we were there this afternoon. We enjoyed our walkthrough, but were dissappointed in how few of the museum's own works were on display. We saw one classic example by Lichtenstein, Ruscha, Rauchenburg, Oldenburg, Warhol and Picasso, but did not see any works by de Kooning, Johns nor Magritte. With most of the space dedicated to shows which featured borrowed works, I felt we saw only a fraction of the over 8,000 pieces that they apparently own. Let's hope they mount a greatest hits show before they shutter the museum.

(The latest scuttlebutt is that Brandeis may or may not sell any/some/all of the art, but closing the museum gives them more flexiblity because they will no longer have to follow the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) guidelines for deaccessioning art.)

J.

Selling Art for Operating Expenses?

Just read that the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University plans to sell off the ENTIRE holdings of the museum to raise money for the University (their endowment has been badly beaten of late). Many museums' charters don't let them sell art for operating expenses for the museum itself (much less for a parent organization like a university). Where not specified, it is generally frowned upon. It raises the question of the intent of the donors, for one thing. Brandeis is currently sorting through the wills and other legal agreements to see how it can proceed. I would expect that if most donors wanted their money to go to operating budget, they would have made a general donation. (for more info, see article in today's New York Times).

Time for a trip to Rose before it's gone!