Recent Posts

Acknowledging Slavery in Early American Art at the Worcester Art Museum

Acknowledging Slavery in Early American Art at the Worcester Art Museum

I’ll admit it. Oil portraits are not my thing. Yes, I am a museum studies student, and yes, I think there’s something to love about pretty much all museums. But if you take me to the Met or the MFA, I am not dragging you 

Gibson House Museum Seeks Part-Time Guides

Gibson House Museum Seeks Part-Time Guides

The Gibson House Museum is currently looking for part-time, fill-in guides to occasionally cover tours. Candidates should feel comfortable with public speaking and have a strong interest in history, architecture, or decorative arts. The museum is open Wednesday –Sunday, and tours are offered at 1:00, 

Weekly Jobs Roundup!

Weekly Jobs Roundup!

Here’s the weekly jobs roundup for the week of June 18th!

New England

Registrar’s Office Intern [Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, MA]

Assistant Manager of Exhibits and Facilities [EcoTarium, Worcester, MA]

Visitor Engagement Fellow [Arnold Arboretum of Harvard, Boston, MA]

Associate Collections Photographer [Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover, MA]

Mid-Atlantic

Curatorial Assistant [Colgate University, Hamilton, NY]

Collections Engagement Manager [Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, Philadelphia, PA]

Manager, Conference Education [AAM, Arlington, VA]

Research Associate [Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY]

Manager of Programs [Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY]

Exhibitions Coordinator [National Geographic Museum, DC]

 

Southeast

Project Coordinator [Imagine Exhibitions, Atlanta, GA]

Preparator [Morikami Museum, Delray Beach, FL]

 

Midwest

Educator, Adult Learning [St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO]

Visitor Relations Coordinator [Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas]

Gallery Educator [Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI]

 

West

Director of Education [Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ]

Director of Community Programs [Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX]

Curatorial Assistant, American Painting and Sculpture [Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX]

 

Making Museums Connected

Making Museums Connected

This week’s post comes from Jingya Guo, a graduate student in the History and Museum Studies program As a new graduate student of Museum Studies so far, I can always notice shifts inside my understanding of museums. I’ve been to museums many times when I 

What Does it Take to Restore a 19th Century Eakins Portrait?

What Does it Take to Restore a 19th Century Eakins Portrait?

Thomas Eakins was an American painter, photographer, and sculptor most known for his portraiture and genre works. Born in Philadelphia in 1844, Eakins has been called the “father of modern realism in American Art.” His work has been exhibited internationally, in institutions such as the 

Asking Forgiveness Instead of Permission

Asking Forgiveness Instead of Permission

The Berkshire Museum has gone ahead with the auction and private sale of choice pieces from its collection, including works by Norman Rockwell (whose works were intended for the people of Pittsfield, MA in perpetuity), Alexander Calder, and Frederic Church. They have not yet reached the $55 million cap permitted by the Massachusetts Attorney General, and so may return to the auction block with more pieces, but the majority of the transactions have been completed. In response, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) has sanctioned the Berkshire Museum, requesting that the association’s 243 members refuse to lend works to the Berkshire Museum or collaborate with it on exhibitions. In a statement the AAMD stated, “Selling art to support any need other than to build a museum’s collection fundamentally undermines the critically important relationships between museums, donors and the public. When museums violate the trust of their donors and the public, they diminish the opportunity and responsibility to make great works of art available to the public.”

Even as this sanction was issued, other voices in the art and museum world rallied to suggest that the current system is flawed. Artsy suggested that the American Association of Museums’ (AAM) policy which only allows collections to be deaccessioned and sold in order to fund the purchase of more art should be modified to permit more diverse uses. They argue that if the goal of museums is to secure collections for the public good, what good comes of large institutions locking away vast amounts of art that may never be displayed? They propose a modified deaccession policy that gives other institutions first opportunity to acquire works, and allows the proceeds from the sales to be used for other purposes beyond acquisitions.

The AAM’s deaccessioning policy intentionally restricts the use of proceeds from deaccessioned collections to prevent liquidation of assets held for the public good from being used to cover up financial mismanagement or other unethical uses. In a recent statement in response to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling on the Berkshire Museum case, the AAM reiterated their position, “We believe this is a critical issue of ethical conduct and best practice, one tied directly to the public trust. When museums violate the trust of their donors and the public, they diminish the opportunity and responsibility to make our cultural heritage available to the public. This hurts the individual institution and affects the museum field as a whole.”

The AAM and AAMD are certainly working on behalf of the public good, and it is in keeping with their roles as professional organizations  to scrupulously maintain the ethics of the industry, but they may also need to assess their current position. Undoubtedly, institutions across the country with high storage costs and low display space are watching this saga unfold and contemplating if they might withstand the legal and professional scrutiny if it meant they could pursue that capital project, hire that new education staff, or add more robust programming to their schedule. Museums are well aware of their precarious positions in their communities as both trusted sources of information and lean competitors for tourism dollars. It may be time for a careful re-consideration of what constitutes the future of ethical use of funds raised from deaccessioning works. If the AAM  and other professional organizations refuse to seriously consider the issue before institutions, it may be that other museums follow the Berkshire’s lead and ethical debates, court judgements, and sanctions hit the newspapers with a frequency that could alter the public’s faith in museums.