The New
York Times reports on a trend among European museums to sell part of their
collections to pay for acquisitions or meet other financial obligations as
government cultural subsidies have been cut back. Other museums have sold
artworks to offset the costs of failed state banks or other state debts. Whether
the sales fund acquisitions or government budget cuts has significant
consequences.
In Britain, the Northampton Museum lost its
accreditation and eligibility for national grants when it sold an Egyptian
statue to fund a museum construction project.
The British Museums Association questioned whether the money would be
used for this purpose and disapproved of its use to offset budget cuts by the
central government. The national Museums Association and ten other arts
organizations, including the Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund,
have announced
that they will not work with museums who sell works for this purpose because it
constitutes “a breach of trust with the public,” the public trust argument previously gutted
by Donn Zaretsky.
In Germany, the sale of 400 works from the collection of a
government-owned bank which folded in 2012 is currently
debated by politicians, art experts, and local authorities. In November, a
state-owned casino, WestSpiel, sold
two Andy Warhol silk screens to fund another casino in Cologne.
French lawmakers have proposed the sale of artworks in
storage at the Louvre. France may limit the works that can be sold to those
that are duplicate works, not part of a core collection, the proceeds of which
can only be used for future acquisitions. However, often the
first consequence of falling subsidies is cuts of acquisitions funds; this model treats a
symptom of the same underlying issue.
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