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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/arts/design/detroits-creditors-eye-its-art-collection.html?_r=0
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21580490-suburbs-and-city-disagree-motown-steps-degas
The city of Detroit, Michigan, has just declared bankruptcy.
In casting about for assets to sell off to make some cash, creditors have been rather alarmingly focused on the Detroit Institute of Arts, the major downtown museum.
Outside of Detroit, almost all city museums are owned by nonprofit corporations which hold the art collection in trust for the citizens.
Detroit, however, didn't do this, I have no idea why.
The DIA is actually owned by the city, which makes it peculiarly vulnerable to being sold off.
The New York Times said "its collection ... is not particularly deep but includes gems by artists like Bruegel, Caravaggio, Rembrandt and van Gogh. It is considered among the top 10 encyclopedic museums in the country. "
I don't know what "not particularly deep" means. I have visited the DIA many times and it has vast holdings, including an entire room of Rubens paintings.
Its collections were accumulated by the automobile barons of the last century, and they are particularly strong in what was considered fashionable at the time, a lot of it medieval and Renaissance art and Victorian realism (with a few glorious exceptions, such as Diego Rivera's awesomely socialist murals).
The first time I visited the DIA it was terrifyingly shabby, a beautiful, huge, expensive, grimy neoclassical building on what was once a grand boulevard but was now desolate and run-down. The art was incredible, but the space felt gritty and holding on by its fingernails.
In recent decades the DIA has seen renovations and improvements. The area of Detroit it is in is still largely empty, but it seemed to hold more hope.
I don't know what to think. I cannot countenance selling off such a resource. It is a terrible thing to do to a people and puts mockery to the very idea of museums as public trusts.
But Detroit is in a great deal of trouble.
Opinions?
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21580490-suburbs-and-city-disagree-motown-steps-degas
The city of Detroit, Michigan, has just declared bankruptcy.
In casting about for assets to sell off to make some cash, creditors have been rather alarmingly focused on the Detroit Institute of Arts, the major downtown museum.
Outside of Detroit, almost all city museums are owned by nonprofit corporations which hold the art collection in trust for the citizens.
Detroit, however, didn't do this, I have no idea why.
The DIA is actually owned by the city, which makes it peculiarly vulnerable to being sold off.
The New York Times said "its collection ... is not particularly deep but includes gems by artists like Bruegel, Caravaggio, Rembrandt and van Gogh. It is considered among the top 10 encyclopedic museums in the country. "
I don't know what "not particularly deep" means. I have visited the DIA many times and it has vast holdings, including an entire room of Rubens paintings.
Its collections were accumulated by the automobile barons of the last century, and they are particularly strong in what was considered fashionable at the time, a lot of it medieval and Renaissance art and Victorian realism (with a few glorious exceptions, such as Diego Rivera's awesomely socialist murals).
The first time I visited the DIA it was terrifyingly shabby, a beautiful, huge, expensive, grimy neoclassical building on what was once a grand boulevard but was now desolate and run-down. The art was incredible, but the space felt gritty and holding on by its fingernails.
In recent decades the DIA has seen renovations and improvements. The area of Detroit it is in is still largely empty, but it seemed to hold more hope.
I don't know what to think. I cannot countenance selling off such a resource. It is a terrible thing to do to a people and puts mockery to the very idea of museums as public trusts.
But Detroit is in a great deal of trouble.
Opinions?
