Reference no: EM133502574

Assignment: Culture and Art Local Art Museum Essay

This brief essay should be between 500 to 750 words (roughly 2-3 double-spaced pages).

Remember not to duplicate analysis of artwork from your short answer or the essay. You may reconsider a piece or an artist provided that the analysis you include here is unique to this answer. Do not forget when mentioning artwork to include Artist, "Title" (Year) the first time it's mentioned. (If the artist is clear from context, you don't need to repeat that again.)

A Hypothetical Scenario (background information for answering the prompt)

TIP: This hypothetical scenario does not have a single correct answer. Whatever course of action you choose should be supported by cogent arguments that rest on examples drawn from lectures, reading, and art discussed in this course.

You Are the Board Member! You are on the Board of Trustees for your local art museum. The museum specializes in contemporary art, and its original mission 70 years ago was to showcase works of modern art. Its collection has grown steadily in recent years, but recently several problems have emerged:

A. The museum has run out of storage space. Unless the size of the permanent collection is reduced or the building is expanded, the museum will literally have nowhere to put newly acquired pieces.

B. The museum is famous for its holdings of sculptures and paintings by the artist Talenti, but his works comprise 20% of the entire collection. Some staff members believe the collection skews too much in favor of this single artist.

C. Two paintings have recently attracted protests from the community because of their content. The paintings depict nude men in poses suggestive of queer themes. Dealing with these protests takes staff away from other duties.

D. The Director of the Museum, Bill Thompson, has recommended that he and the curatorial staff should identify items from the collection to deaccession.

E. He has suggested two different strategies to manage the deaccession process, but he wants the Board of Trustees to select which strategy to follow before he proceeds:

I. Strategy I: Reduce the permanent collection by 20% by selling predominantly older works from three categories. First, works that no longer have relevance as "contemporary art." They may have lost relevance because the artist died long ago or because they seem out of step with present-day society. Nevertheless, there will be a market for these works among collectors or among museums whose mandate does not emphasize contemporary art. Second, works by artists who have multiple pieces in the collection, where the museum would keep the more important examples of the artist's style but sell the less significant ones. Third, the Director advocates selling two of the most famous and popular pieces in the collection, by the artist Talenti. While it will be painful to part with these sculptures, they will generate the most revenue for the museum while allowing it to keep more of the overall collection. Proceeds from the sales would fund primarily renovation to the building's existing spaces. The sale would do little to allow the museum to grow the collection by acquiring new works to replace the ones sold.

II. Strategy II: Reduce the permanent collection by 30% in a more aggressive overhaul. First, Director Thompson advocates selling the two paintings of nude males with gay overtones. These paintings are widely recognized as brilliant artwork, but occasionally local protestors have complained they are offensive. Thompson believes they will generate a significant cash windfall while eliminating a recurring headache. Second, he suggests targeting works by white male artists who have been dead 30 years or longer. Not only do these artists no longer quite fit the definition of contemporary, but the older parts of the collection have little diversity in the artists featured. Third, he advocates leaving intact the entire collection of works by Talenti, despite the age of these items, because the museum has a national reputation for excellence because the Talenti gallery is a signature strength of the collection. Proceeds of this larger sale would be spent primarily on acquiring new works, created in the last 15 years. The expansion to the collection would emphasize women artists and artists of color. In this scenario, the longterm storage scenario remains unaddressed-a problem to be solved in the future (whenever the collection once again becomes too large for existing capacity).

The Chairperson of the Board of Trustees has asked each individual Trustee to write a brief memo (say, 500 to 750 words) to assess the advantages and drawbacks of ONE of these two choices. She wants the memo to address the following points:

A. Whether any part of the deaccession strategy is likely to run afoul of industry standards and best practices, to avoid sanction for failing to follow national guidelines for Contemporary Art Museums that want to deaccession items from their collection.

B. Whether the targeted parts of the collection for this strategy will be good for business.

C. Whether the deaccession strategy is a sound policy for a museum whose mission statement for 75 years has emphasized collecting "contemporary art that reflects recent trends in artistic styles and methodologies."

D. Whether the Museum should use the new revenue to prioritize renovation and expansion of the building or to re-grow and revitalize the collection through the acquisition of new works.

E. Whether other museums have faced similar issues in the past and how they have resolved these issues.

F. Finally, whether you recommend adoption of the strategy you analyzed.

I. Choice I: Dear Madam Chairwoman: The most relevant consideration(s) for Strategy 1 are...

II. Choice II: Dear Madam Chairwoman: The most relevant consideration(s) for Strategy 2 are....