Want to Buy this Museum?

Want to Buy This Museum?

The Washington Post today featured an article by David Montgomery on push-back over the proposed sale of the Corcoran’s 1897 beaux arts building on 17th Street NW.

Museums today tend to follow a fairly strict set of ethical and professional collections management guidelines. One of the most basic principles is that, as public trusts, museums must not sell off their collections for financial reasons. Stated simply by Marie Malaro, “the fact that a museum desperately needs money should not dictate that collection objects must be sold…”* Through the podcast we have often indicated that we consider the museum building to be a part of the institution’s collection.

The issue becomes complicated when an institution finds itself in danger of having to shut its doors, or becomes unable to care for its collection. Personally, I can’t imagine the Corcoran’s collection in another setting, but I do wonder if those protesting against the sale are willing to dedicate themselves to finding alternate ways of raising money for the museum. What are your thoughts?

The Art Attack at the Corcoran:

Oscar Wilde by Hiroshi Sugimoto

Black Girl Dragging White Girl by Kim Dingle

Portrait of Henri Matisse by Henri Cartier-Bresson

*Malaro, Marie C. A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections. Smithsonian Books, Washington DC. 1998.