British Museums Urged to Unload Unused Works

LONDON—British museums are being urged to sell some of their unexhibited works, advice that is causing dissent among leading arts figures, the Times (London) reports. The Museums Association, which represents most of Britain's 1,500 museums, said deaccessions should become routine to make museums more "dynamic" and in some cases raise funds for other acquisitions. "Wonderful collections can become a burden unless they are cleared of unused objects," said Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, which recently gave its blessing to the Watts Gallery's controversial proposed sale of The Triumph of Love, by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, and Jasmine, by Albert Joseph Moore. The works are valued up to £1.4 million ($2.8 million), and the museum plans to use the proceeds to fix its leaky roof. "We're professionals," Taylor said. "We have to make those judgments."

Some art-world insiders such as  Sir Hugh Leggatt, the former Museums and Galleries Commissioner, say institutions getting rid of pieces on a regular basis might not go over so well with donors. "Benefactors are not going to be excited to know that what they might give might be sold off one day," Leggatt said.

Others, including Roy Strong, the former director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, see increasing deaccessions as a good thing. Museums "can't keep piling up the stuff forever," Strong said. "Something has to go."