Deaccessioning

Former university museum director drops lawsuit seeking to block sale of works to fund dormitory repairs

The deaccessioning dispute at Valparaiso University’s Brauer Museum of Art centres on works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Frederic Church and Childe Hassam collectively valued at up to $15m

Amid deaccessioning scandal and falling enrollment, Valparaiso University shuts down campus museum

The university’s plans to sell off works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Childe Hassam and Frederic Church prompted a lawsuit and appeals to Indiana state officials

Metropolitan Museum's deaccessioned George Washington portrait could bring $2.5m at auction

The Gilbert Stuart painting is one of less than 20 versions of the image known to exist

University’s plan to fund dormitory renovations by selling art worth $10m, including O’Keeffe landscape painting, clears legal hurdle

Following a county judge’s ruling in favour of Valparaiso University, both sides are making their case to Indiana’s attorney general

Balthus painting deaccessioned by the Art Institute of Chicago could bring as much as $18m at auction

"La Patience" (1948), which was one of two Balthus paintings in the museum’s collection, will go up for auction at Sotheby’s New York in November

Parthenon Marbles deal still on the table despite British Museum theft scandal

Other Greek treasures would come to London in exchange for a loan of the contested sculptures

Checkmate for public art installation of giant game pieces in Philadelphia

“Your Move”, a sculptural installation in central Philadelphia, will be permanently removed after it was deemed too costly to maintain

Declassified documents on Parthenon Marbles reveal rift between UK government and British Museum

Foreign Office was dismissive of the museum's attempts to lobby for the contested sculptures in 1983

‘Duplicative’ or discarded? Whitney's sale of more Hopper works from historic bequest comes under scrutiny

Questions resurface over New York museum’s rationale for consigning works by the artist to auction

Lawsuit filed to block university's sale of Georgia O’Keeffe painting to fund dormitory renovations

Indiana-based Valparaiso University is reportedly hoping to raise $20m with the sale of works by O’Keeffe, Childe Hassam and Frederic Church from its museum’s collection

Indiana university under fire over plan to sell $15m Georgia O’Keeffe painting to fund dorm renovation

Museum associations and the university’s former art department chair have spoken out against the planned deaccessioning

Following controversial sales, US museums association revises its deaccessioning policy

The new rule includes a definition of the term “direct care”, whose ambiguity had led to divergent interpretations by museums selling works from their collections

'Tate capitulated to my legal demand': donor of disputed Francis Bacon archive responds to museum's return of collection

Barry Joule disputes gallery’s claim that trove of sketches and documents, which he donated, was "unsuitable for retention"

Victoria & Albert Museum director says it is time to change UK law that stops museums from ‘disposing’ of works

Tristram Hunt aims to start a “conversation” about the act next year, arguing that some items should be allowed to be restituted or deaccessioned

Francis Bacon: why Tate returned a 1,000-piece archive

Plus, US photographer of queer women, Alice Austen; and Michel Majerus at Art Basel

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American museums try to cash in as deaccessioning truce expires

This month’s New York auctions brought mixed results for museums that sold off works just as pandemic exemptions ended

Time is up on relaxed rules for US museums wanting to sell their works—did this brief shift have any lasting impact?

As stringent restrictions on art sales return after a pandemic reprieve, American institutions seem more polarised than ever

Picasso bronze deaccessioned by the Metropolitan Museum could bring $30m at Christie’s

The sale of the canonical early Cubist sculpture will bolster the museum’s acquisitions fund and at no great cost to its collection, which includes another edition of the work

Baltimore Museum of Art director Christopher Bedford will leave to lead SFMoMA

Bedford, like his SFMoMA predecessor Neal Benezra, very publicly ran afoul of industry conventions around deaccessioning and selling works from museum collections

For the first time ever, a Korean museum is selling off 'national treasures' at auction

Two bronze Buddha statues are likely to make records for cultural artefacts at auction in Korea

Amid financial adversity, can a museum association emerge as an innovative leader on deaccessioning?

Association of Art Museum Directors should permanently recognise “direct care” of collections as a proper use of art sale proceeds

After disputed sale at Sotheby’s, Thomas Cole’s The Arch of Nero will go on view at Philadelphia Museum of Art

Institution says the work is being lent by the foundation that swooped in to rescue it when it was deaccessioned by the Newark Museum of Art

Newark Museum of Art’s much-disputed sale of Thomas Cole painting nets $988,000

Auction at Sotheby’s yields promising yet mixed results for museum’s drive to fund collections care

As a Sotheby’s auction looms, scholars protest Newark Museum of Art’s plan to sell a Thomas Cole painting and other works

In an open letter, they denounce the deaccessioning move as a “senseless monetisation” of art from the permanent collection

Baltimore Museum of Art director defends diversity goals that his institution hoped to meet through art sales

At a conference on deaccessioning, Christopher Bedford says that museum collections are “a literal manifestation” of prejudice and privilege

Members of US museums association narrowly reject proposal to contemplate a change in guidelines on art sales

Amid debate, AAMD votes 91-88 against exploring a controversial revision of rules to allow proceeds to finance collections care

After thwarted art sales, Baltimore Museum of Art marshalls funding to promote diversity and equity

Institution announces $1.46m in gifts to finance goals such as pay increases for hourly workers and extended visiting hours

Lintels at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco to return to Thailand

Museum director says Justice Department’s legal case only served “to cloud the respectful and serious process of deaccession and repatriation”

Met director defends move to consider deaccessioning for collections care rather than art purchases

Max Hollein argues that more art will not necessarily be sold, although proceeds can now go to other purposes amid the pandemic financial crisis

Rumbles of dissent emerge over Met’s proposal to expand deaccessioning

As museum mulls art sales to finance collections care, critics worry that its example could open the floodgates for US art institutions