Derek Fincham

Arts Funding Cuts at Universities

Patricia Cohen has an article for the New York Times on the current funding cuts plaguing Universities across the US. It speaks to the general trend plaguing arts funding in America, but indicates as well I think a potential tide of deaccessions across the country:

If you are looking for a sign of how strapped the University of California, Los Angeles, is for cash, consider that its arts and architecture school may resort to holding a bake sale to raise money. California’s severe financial crisis has left its higher-education system — which serves nearly a fifth of the nation’s college students — in particularly bad straits. But tens of thousands of students at public and private colleges and universities around the country will find arts programs, courses and teachers missing — victims of piercing budget cuts — when they descend on campuses this month and next.

At Washington State University the department of theater arts and dance has been eliminated. At Florida State University the undergraduate program in art education and two graduate theater programs are being phased out. The University of Arizona is cutting three-quarters of its funds, more than $500,000, for visiting classical music, dance and theater performers. Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts, which supports four departments — dance, music, theater and visual arts — is losing 14 percent of its $1.2 million budget over the next two years. The Louisiana State University Museum of Art, one of the largest university-affiliated collections in the South, saw 20 percent of its state financing disappear. Other private and state institutions warn of larger classes, trimmed offerings, higher tuition and fewer services, faculty and visitors.

Given this, I think we need to seriously ask whether the current set of rules for deaccessioning works of art are really ensuring the continued viability of the arts. Why can’t a University decide to sell all or part of its art collection? So long as it remains on display or available to researchers in the public trust, who is harmed?

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

How Art Enters the Public Trust

One of the difficulties plaguing the current state of deaccession deaccession is the idea that works of art enter the public trust, which often leads to a variety inconsistent restrictions on their disposal. But one under-appreciated aspect is the haphazard way in which many of those works actually enter the public trust. One example is the difficulty plaguing Donald Fisher—founder of the gap and San Francisco Resident—and his impressive collection of contemporary art. Fisher had considered opening a new museum in San Francisco, but his first choice, the Presidio in San Francisco was criticized by preservationists and appears to have been abandoned.

Julie Anne Strack for the L.A. Times has more details:

Now the fate of his collection, which includes about a thousand works by such artists as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Alexander Calder and is conservatively valued in the tens of millions of dollars, has San Francisco’s art community fearful that the city could lose an irreplaceable cultural treasure.

“It would be an absolute crime if it left San Francisco,” said Dede Wilsey, president of the board that oversees the De Young and Legion of Honor, two of the city’s major art museums. “No one could amass that collection now. They couldn’t afford it, even in a recession.”

The collection, housed in a warehouse and at Gap headquarters in San Francisco, is open to scholars, and Fisher routinely loans pieces to museums. But until an agreement is reached, most of it will stay behind closed doors.

“You could very easily teach the history of art over the past 50 years with this collection,” said Hilarie Faberman, a curator at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Faberman said nearly every piece deserves to be displayed.

The collection, curators say, will probably be pursued by museums around the country.

Fisher would prefer to keep the art in San Francisco, said spokesman Alex Tourk, who added that Fisher and his family have received hundreds of e-mails from residents who don’t want the collection to leave.

Given the jockeying for the collection which appears to be taking place, how much consideration will be given to how or when the collection may be sold? None I’d imagine, as any institution which may conider such a move would surely fall far down Fisher’s list. What about how the institution hopes to fulfill its obligations to the public? That likely receives little attention as well, as most museums operate under the assumption (which has been proved wrong) that they will exist in perpituity. But plans go awry, and communities change. A city which once supported a vibrant arts community may no longer be able to; or may shift focus to the next wave of contemporary art. This kind of brazen optimism and shortsightedness is one of the primary contributing factors to the current state of deaccession decisions currently plaguing arts institutions. Instead the primary concern now is how to “retain” these works in San Francisco.

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

More on the Utah Antiquities Investigation

Patty Henetz has more on the Four Corners antiquities investigation for the Salt Lake Tribune. It seems one of the defendants of Native descent simply walked onto reservations and purchased bowls, Hopi kachina masks, Sun Dance skulls, eagle feathers, knives, pots and fetishes from members of the tribe.

More than 20 tribes live on pueblos in the Southwest; all pueblos are reservations that include no private land. The pueblo tribes consider themselves the descendants of the people popularly known as Anasazi, who migrated away from their cultural center in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon between the 12th and 13th centuries after years of drought and famine.

Last fall, [Christopher Selser, a antiquities dealer accused of wrongdioing] invited [another buyer] and the [undercover antiquities dealer cooperating with Federal authorities] into his home, where Hopi kachina masks were hanging on the walls. The affidavit alleges that Selser, who talked about buying objects Cavaliere got from the pueblos, said he sold artifacts at a Paris trade show and that Europeans “love this kind of material.”

The court papers say Selser showed off a kachina mask he said he got from the Hopi Third Mesa — which includes Old Oraibi, the oldest continuously inhabited village in the United States, existing since around A.D. 1050.

A Hopi consultant told federal authorities that all kachina masks are considered living gods and not items a tribal member would have been allowed to sell.

During one transaction, court papers say, the Source ran into an Arizona couple he used to deal with who sold him two Hopi bowls from the tribe’s Second Mesa they had bought from Schenck.

The bowls had “kill holes” in them, ritual defacings made during burial ceremonies.

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

More on the Roerich Thefts

The New York Police Department has released images of the works stolen from the Nicholas Roerich Museum back in June. As I posted yesterday, the works were taken from the museum, but were not immediately discovered. The small museum has limited hours and a small staff. Such a small museum is a good target for art thieves as it may not have sophisticated security systems, and limited visitors who may notice a theft.

Libby Nelson for the New York Times’ City Room blog notes:

The museum, at 318 West 107th Street, is open from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Sundays. The paintings were stolen during visiting hours on June 24 and June 28, the police said.

“A lot of people come here, and during the open hours, somebody stole one painting,” [Daniel Entin, the museum director, said]. “And then, maybe a day, later stole another.”

He said he believed that the same person, a woman, was responsible for both thefts.

. . .

The museum has had little in the way of conventional security since it opened in 1949. It relied on secure doors, windows and entryways to prevent break-ins, Mr. Entin said, and never had an art theft before.

“We had what was always considered a very secure place,” he said. “We were always more oriented toward prevention.”

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Utah Antiquities Charges Could Spread

The Utah antiquities investigation may lead to other arrests. So say Federal authorities in an article for the AP. There is some really damning evidence (already) in some of the search warrant affidavits, and it confirms what many have long speculated:

Federal authorities in charge of the nation’s biggest bust of artifact looting and grave-robbing are targeting more suspects ranging from those who do the digging to wealthy buyers in the lucrative black market of ancient Southwest relics.

Twenty-five people have already been charged after a long-running sting operation involving a bounty of artifacts taken from federal and tribal lands in the Four Corners region.

More arrests are likely, according to federal officials. Among the next targets could be wealthy collectors who fuel the underground trade.

“It’s fair to say the investigation is looking at all levels, from diggers and dealers to high-end collectors,” said Carlie Christensen, an assistant U.S. attorney for Utah.

The case was the first to deeply penetrate the murky world of American Indian artifacts trafficking, relying on a well-connected artifacts dealer-turned-undercover operative.

The man was equipped to provide federal agents with wireless video feeds from homes and shops where he wheeled and dealed over artifacts, ultimately spending more than $335,000 on bowls, stone pipes, sandals, jars, pendants, necklaces and other items.

He was paid $224,000 for the undercover work over 2 1/2 years, according to search warrant affidavits describing his work.

The informant gave federal officials a rare insider’s view of the illegal artifacts trade, recording a parade of suspects as they described their methods in astonishing frankness.

They discussed digging in camouflage or by moonlight, knowing when a park ranger takes his days off, and looting in spring when the dirt softens up and before the heat of summer.

One suspect said he scouted for ruins in a fly-over and followed up with a 10-mile hike. Another dug fresh holes on his property in case “someone comes asking” about where his artifacts came from, the documents say.
Yet another boasted that in a 1986 raid, federal agents took 32 of his pots but overlooked a hidden safe and the most damning evidence — a ledger of a lifetime of trading that named people he dealt with.

Some pretty remarkable nuggets, and this is probably what the agents had intended to do all along, arrest or indict a large number of the lower-level looters and dealers in the hopes that they may implicate other individuals higher up the supply chain. It should be interesting to see where the investigation arrives, perhaps even implicating the sale of objects from other nations?

Two Thefts Discovered in New York

“If someone steals your car you can go get another one”. So says Daniel Entin The Executive Director of the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York. The New York Post reports on the discovery of the theft of two works from the Nicholas Roerich Museum. A police officer noticed the initial theft in June:

A cop who happened to be visiting the museum was the first to notice a work was missing from the Nicholas Roerich Museum on West 107th Street near Riverside Drive.

It was 30 minutes before closing time on June 24 when he saw a blank spot on a wall where a picture was supposed to be.

“A police officer was just visiting, and he noticed there was a label and no painting,” said a museum employee.

Gone was a $20,000 piece called “The Himalayas,” a 10-by-14 inch pencil-on-paper drawing that Roerich, a Russian artist, sketched to mark his days in the 1930s when he was living in the foothills of the Asian mountains.

But then four days later an employee noticed “a work was missing from a wall in the same hallway, a 12-by-16 inch oil-on-canvas painting called “Talung Monastery,” valued at $70,000.” The difficulty the museum had in discovering the theft of the works probably speaks to how the thefts took place. The museum has only four staff, and receives about 25 visitors daily.

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Netherlands Returns Iraqi Objects

The BBC reports on the transfer of ownership of 69 objects from the Netherlands to Iraq which had been illegally removed from that country after the 2003 invasion.

The objects were taken from Dutch art dealers and will likely be displayed in the Dutch National Museum for Antiquities until they can be returned to Iraq.

Ronald Plasterk, the Dutch minister for education, culture and science, said the world should “cherish and honour” Iraq’s history as the cradle of civilisation.

“These objects lose a lot of their value if they are stolen from their site,” he said.

Mr Plasterk said the items were surrendered by Dutch art dealers once police informed them they had been stolen.

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Increase in Visitorship to Historic Sites

In the Art Newspaper, Brook S. Mason reports on the increase in visitors to artist sites and historic homes in the US and the UK—a product perhaps of the economic downturn. Though the art market may be suffering, people may be staying closer to home and visiting the historic sites and areas near them:

“Staycations” in the US seem to be driving attendance at some National Trust properties. “We have anecdotal evidence confirming that people are spending less, staying closer to home and visiting more of our sites,” says James Vaughan, National Trust vice president for historic sites in Washington, DC. But the US National Trust, with a membership of only 250,000, pales in comparison to the British National Trust, which has 3.6m members . . .

“We were passive before, but now we’re building an entire community by asking literally everyone to support preservation and modernism,” says Glass House executive director Christie MacLear. “Considering that none of the people giving $1,000 and under had ever supported us before, those figures are really compelling,” she says . . .

“There’s a recalibration of consumer spending from buying a bigger house or jazzy designer handbag to now focusing on cultural experiences instead,” says Ms MacLear. She has found that visitors characterise the Glass House as “inspiring”. Artists Julian Schnabel, Jasper Johns, Cindy Sherman and Frank Stella have all visited within the past year.

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Bookkeeper Embezzled $1M

The Arizona Capitol Times roports on the embezzlement of $1 Million from the Tucson Museum of Art:

The Attorney General’s Office announced a 65-year-old Tucson woman faces up to 12-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from her theft of almost $1 million from a southern Arizona museum.

According to Attorney General Terry Goddard, Ruth Sons began working as a bookkeeper for the Tucson Museum of Art in 1990, but an internal audit of the institution completed last year found that Sons had embezzled $975,000 over the course of a five-year span ending in 2008.

Sons pleaded guilty to a single count of theft and fraud before a Pima County Superior Court judge on Aug.3. She was indicted in May on three counts of theft and fraud, as well as a single count of illegally conducting an enterprise.

Prosecutors and police contend Sons operated an “elaborate embezzlement scheme” that involved forging the signatures of museum’s management personnel and falsifying financial records to cover theft from the museum’s payroll, petty cash accounts and the museum shop.

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

The Chimaera of Arezzo at the Getty

In a tangible shift in the way the Getty will perhaps operate in the future, the Chimaera of Arezzo has arrived at the Getty Villa in Malibu. It is a loan of the work which combines history, archaeology, mythology and art appreciation. Based on the initial reviews, it is exactly the kind of exhibition an institution like the Getty should be doing—rather than persisting in acquiring potentially looted antiquities.

The Etruscan bronze was found in Tuscany in the 16th Century and installed at the Palazzo Vecchio by Cosimo I. It had been on display in Florence before being sent to Malibu.

The LA Times Arts blog reviews the bronze and the exhibition:

The roaring head, encircled by curving rows of tufted fur, strains upward and bends to the right. Behind it the goat’s head mirrors this pose but in the opposite direction. So the bodily motion goes down, back, up, left and right, yielding a marvelously animated dynamism. Skin is pulled taut over powerful musculature, while parallel curves, alternating shadow with light, articulate the beast’s gaunt rib cage. This is an animal with living, breathing innards, not just a ferocious outward demeanor.

Look closely and you’ll spot a couple of stylized floral rosettes on the goat’s neck and the lion’s hind end — in fact, engorged drops of blood, spurting from stabbed flesh. The beast has been wounded, no doubt from the fatal assault by the long-lost bronze figure of the Greek hero Bellerophon riding his winged steed, Pegasus — victors in the mythical ancient battle. The Chimaera of Arezzo is what remains of a surely amazing sculptural grouping, fabricated by a supremely gifted artist and his bronze casting crew, circa 400 B.C.

It is an antiquity with a well-storied history. At the time, Cosimo I, the Grand Duke of Tuscany was competing with Rome. When this bronze was unearthed, he had an antiquity to rival this bronze, “La Lupa”, which depicted the mythical founding of Rome.

But has anything really changed? It is interesting I think that the use of antiquities as symbols of power in the Renaissance continues in Italy today. Consider the recent controversy which erupted when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi may have revealed to an escort girl that his Villa in Sardinia may have been built on top of 30 ancient Phoenecian tombs without the necessary notification of the Culture Ministry or the Carabinieri.

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com