The Carnegie Museum of Art and the Montclair Art Museum have announced that they will deaccession artworks from their respective permanent collections. Following the controversy surrounding the potential closing of the Rose Art Museum and/or sale of part of their permanent collection, any form of deaccessioning will most likely be met with some degree of criticism. However, in this instance, both museums have adamantly insisted that they will re-allocate the proceeds from their sales toward the acquisition of new artworks for their collections.
According to the New York Times, Montclair Art Museum intends to begin "aggressively deaccessioning... artwork, costumes, rugs, and books that have rarely been seen by the public or are no longer consistent with the institution's mission."
Some of these works will be featured in Christie's upcoming spring auctions, most notably a 1951 drip-style drawing by Jackson Pollock. In regard to future museum purchases, Lora Urbanelli, director of the museum, stated that officials must "think about the community" while also growing the museum's endowment.
Meanwhile, the Carnegie Museum of Art auctioned off four decorative art objects today at Sotheby's in New York, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The works included a George Nakashima Corner Table (est. $6,000–8,000) and Bench (est. $20–30,000), a Charles and Ray Eames FSW-10 (Ten-Panel Folding Screen Wood) (est. $5–7,000) and a Riviere Studios "Grapevine" Table Lamp (est. $5,000–7,000). The Riviere Studios object sold for $4,375 (including buyer's premium), while the other three objects were bought in.
Ellen James, a spokesman for the museum, told the Post-Gazette that the funds from the sale would be placed in an acquisition fund in order to purchase other decorative arts objects for the museum.
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