Displaying items by tag: american alliance of museums

The American Alliance of Museums announced today that its president, Ford W. Bell, will step down at the end of May 2015, after eight years at the helm. During that time he oversaw a rebranding and restructuring of the AAM, which sets standards and advocates for museums.

Bell was vocal on a number of museum issues during his tenure, including the threatened deaccessioning of works from the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, which he forcefully rebutted.

The Delaware Art Museum will auction off one of its iconic Pre-Raphaelite paintings, "Isabella and the Pot of Basil" at Christie's in London next month, museum officials announced Tuesday. The William Holman Hunt oil painting, purchased by the museum in 1947, is one of as many as four works the museum will sell over the next several months to pay off construction debt and replenish its endowment. The Delaware museum boasts the most significant collection of Pre-Raphaelite works outside of the United Kingdom.

Museum officials have declined to release the names of the other works, explaining that it could hurt the market for private sales. They have promised not to sell any works acquired through gift or bequest. Winslow Homer's "Milking Time," one of the museum's most treasured works purchased in 1967, disappeared from its wall and collections database last month. Museum officials won't confirm that it is scheduled to be sold.

The Michigan state Senate has taken measures to protect the Detroit Institute of Arts’ (DIA) works from being sold as a means to help revive the city’s grim economy. On Tuesday, June 4, 2013, the Senate’s General Government Committee approved a bill that aims to codify the ethical standards implemented by the American Alliance of Museums, which bans institutions from selling artworks for any reason other than the enhancement of its collection.

The Senate decided to take action after Detroit’s emergency manager Kevyn Orr asked for an appraisal of the DIA’s collection. Orr was considering whether the museum’s multi-billion dollar collection could be considered an asset to Detroit, which could potentially be sold to help cover the city’s $15 billion debt. Orr’s inquiry sparked an immediate reaction and DIA hired bankruptcy lawyer Richard Levin of Cravath, Swaine & Moore to protect the collection from any possible losses.

DIA is a unique public museum as Detroit retains ownership of its building and collection while a separate nonprofit institution manages its day-to-day operations. DIA’s collection includes major works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569), Henri Matisse (1869-1954), and Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Many of these masterpieces were donated by the city’s finest collectors, some of who have put restrictions on the works stipulating what DIA or the city can do with the works.

The bill, which was approved on a 5-0 vote, will now move to the full state Senate where it will be reviewed later this week.