{"id":108876,"date":"2017-07-30T22:49:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T02:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=108876"},"modified":"2017-07-30T22:49:24","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T02:49:24","slug":"nightmare-at-the-museum-art-auction-triggers-ethics-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/07\/30\/nightmare-at-the-museum-art-auction-triggers-ethics-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Nightmare at the museum: Art auction triggers ethics dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield has come under intense national and local pressure after announcing it’s auctioning the art. (Photo<\/a>: Berkshire Museum\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BOSTON\u2014A Massachusetts museum’s decision to part with 40 artworks, including two by illustrator Norman Rockwell, has touched off a debate over whether it’s ever ethical to sell pieces of the collection to pay the bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield has come under intense national and local pressure after announcing it’s auctioning the art.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics say it’s violating a cardinal rule of museums: Don’t sell stuff to pay the bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most fundamental and long\u2014standing principles of the museum field is that a collection is held in the public trust and must not be treated as a disposable financial asset,\u201d the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors said in a joint statement. The sale would be an \u201cirredeemable loss,\u201d they added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leslie Ferrin, who runs an area company that represents artists, started a Facebook page for members of the local art community opposed to the sale called \u201cSave the art at the Berkshire Museum of Natural History and Art.\u201d Members of the group say they hope to convince the museum to change its mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSelling gifts is against every moral and ethical standard\u201d of running a museum, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

At auction, the pieces are likely going to be sold to private collectors, and the public will lose access, Ferrin said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sale is necessary to ensure the museum’s very existence, executive director Van Shields said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The money raised will help establish a $40 million endowment and pay for $20 million in renovations as the museum refocuses its mission to become a more interdisciplinary and interactive institution more dedicated to history and science.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are facing an existential threat. We needed to adapt, migrate or go extinct,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The art being auctioned includes works by Albert Bierstadt, Alexander Calder and Charles Wilson Peale, but it’s the Rockwell oil paintings that have stirred the deepest emotions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBlacksmith’s Boy\u2014Heel and Toe\u201d and \u201cShuffleton’s Barbershop\u201d were gifts to the museum from Rockwell himself, who called the region home for the last 25 years of his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Laurie Norton Moffatt, director of the nearby Norman Rockwell Museum, has come out in opposition to the sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the museum’s leadership, the potential price that these irreplaceable artistic treasures could fetch seems to have obscured their very rich role in the life of the Berkshires,\u201d she wrote in an opinion piece in The Berkshire Eagle newspaper.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shields respects the opinions of those opposed to the sale, and said he and the museum’s trustees \u201cknew we were going to be pilloried,\u201d but added that the auction is a done deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Berkshire Museum opened in 1903, it was the cultural beacon of the region. It was founded by Zenas Crane, a member of the family that owned Crane & Company, a paper manufacturer that to this day supplies paper used to make U.S. currency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now it’s overshadowed by the region’s world\u2014renowned museums, including the Clark Art Institute, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the Norman Rockwell Museum.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe cultural landscape has changed dramatically and the Berkshire Museum has not adapted to that change,\u201d Shields said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Selling the works was not a decision made lightly. It was a two\u2014year process that involved multiple focus groups, multiple retreats by the board of trustees (which includes a member of the Crane family) and input from hundreds of members of the community, Shields said.<\/span><\/p>\n

By switching its focus to science and history\u2014and yes, some art will remain\u2014the Berkshire Museum can fill a currently empty cultural niche in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those opposed to the sale are in the minority.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve received overwhelming support for this,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON\u2014A Massachusetts museum’s decision to part with 40 artworks, including two by illustrator Norman Rockwell, has touched off a debate …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":108888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[20029,20028],"class_list":["post-108876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art-and-culture","category-lifestyle","tag-art-auction","tag-berkshire-museum","mauthors-mark-pratt","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}