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Museum directors all agree that anyone who sells museum holdings to meet operating expenses is blacklisted from future visiting collections. Let them sell some
by patja 6y ago
Museum directors all agree that anyone who sells museum holdings to meet operating expenses is blacklisted from future visiting collections. Let them sell some of their holdings and all will be well. Many of them are sitting on a vast inventory of items that are never seen by anyone.
- Wowfunhappy 6y agoCame here to say this. Malcolm Gladwell laid this out in a recent Podcast (although I didn't know about the blacklisting thing). http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/42-dragon-psychology-101 http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/42-dragon-psychology-...
- lumens 6y agoMalcolm Gladwell touches on this beautifully in the most recent season of Revisionist History: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dragon-psychology-101/id1119389968?i=1000478450374 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dragon-psychology-101/...
- snowwrestler 6y agoThe purpose of a museum is to share knowledge, and selling objects into private collection is a direct violation of that mission. They might as well set the stuff on fire; the effect would be the same. Edit to add: it's a myth that objects not currently on public display are "never seen by anyone." Some get seen by the public when used or loaned out for temporary, traveling, or themed exhibits. The rest are generally made available to researchers with interest in that field.
- pmiller2 6y agoDoesn’t that only specifically apply to art museums?