In providing factual information about various pieces offered for sale, you
truly would be providing the kinds of information that curators provide to
the public on a regular basis. But this is short of becoming a personal art
advisor to selected individual collectors who might give something to the
museum eventually. Doing this properly would require lots of time and a more
intimate knowledge of the collector's holdings, their tastes, and collecting
goals.
Your director's plan may lead to some interesting and sticky problems for
you (but that's why you get the big bucks, right?). If you're advising a
group of people, are they expecting your advice to be exclusive...or will
you tell all the collectors to go for the same three pieces at Sothebys?
What happens if a piece you recommended ends up being a fake or stolen
property? What happens if you miss something and fail to recommend a
particular piece that becomes the hit of the auction? How will you handle
their demands for information about price, strategy, trades, and other areas
you don't want to get into? Too, the information that you provide could be
used later by the collector (or their dealer) to eventually sell or trade
the material.
I can see some value--to a point--in providing special access to people who
may become donors in the future....given than you can't be giving your time
away in return for a donation that may never come. There are a lot of people
out there that will take your assistance and just use it for their own
benefit. Also, your services are valuable, and if they eventually donate the
piece, the value of that service may have to be subtracted from the value of
the donation to establish their tax deduction. My experiences with
"cultivation" have had very mixed returns.
In your case, maybe your director would be satisfied with the following:
since you're probably reviewing auction offerings anyway, make a "top ten"
selection (based on provenance, style, authenticity, etc) and let your
potential patrons know your opinion. You could also answer their questions
about other pieces in the show that they might be interested in. I would
strictly refer their questions about value to an appraiser or dealer.
The collectors would likely appreciate knowing your opinion and getting some
attention. But you're really not doing much more for them than you would for
anyone else. I provide this kind of information to collectors, dealers,
members of the public, anyone...and I assume that the museum isn't getting
anything out of it other than meeting our mission to educate and disseminate
information. I often get information and leads from them that helps in my
work. If a donation comes eventually because of it, all the better. All I
ask of them is that my information not be used for commercial purposes.
My humble thoughts, for what they might be worth.
Steve Henrikson
Curator of Collections
Alaska State Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Abel Baker
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 8:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Curator/Donor Ethics
To my colleagues,
I am a young curator working in a well-known art museum in a large U.S. city
that maintains a growing collection of a fairly specific group of modern and
contemporary artists. Recently I have been asked by the director of our
institution to provide professional advice to certain of its patrons on what
offerings made at the major auction houses might make good purchases for
their private collections. Apparently the rationale for giving this help is
that such purchases could perhaps eventually find their way into our
institution's collection through the patrons' possible donations at some
future time.
While I understand that this possibility exists, I still wonder if providing
such consultations is fully ethical. For instance, if a private patron is
making tax-exempt donations to our institution and recieves "financial"
advice in return, is this appropriate? Also, the museum I work for is very
influential, so doesn't this kind of exchange with a private art collector
encourage us to nuture our relationship with these patrons by highlighting
and featuring the works of those same certain artists in their private
collections, thus supporting and perhaps increasing their monetary value --
and enriching the donors financially?
I am new on the job, and find this issue confusing. My director says that
"all museum curators do this." I have consulted the A.A.M. code of ethics
webpage on "Guidelines for Museums on Developing and Managing Individual
Donor Support," and this issue is not addressed. I wonder if anyone has any
knowledge of how such issues are regarded ethically in the profession? Am I
naive to question this?
I would prefer to keep my institution's name anonynmous, and I hope I may
ask this question in a discreet manner.
Thanks for any help and advice,
A.B.
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