On Mon, 1 Aug 1994 12:49:28 -0400,
Robbin Murphy  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Jim, read the WSJ article about the Whitney renting out
>part of their collection to the San Jose Museum of Art.
>Keep in mind that the only museum director the WSJ hates
>more than David Ross is Tom Krens at the Guggenheim . . .
>People love to line up and take pot shots at these projects
>but never seem to offer any solutions themselves. As it is
>most of the Whitney Collection sits in a brand new storage
>facility on 14th Street.
ROBBIN, Collections access is a severe problem for most art museums--it is
not uncommon to have 80, 90, even 97% of the collection in storage.
Solutions are being found: Storage/Study Centers, Open Storage, "rotating"
the collection, and yes, collections sharing (the NEA Museum Program has
offered financial support for this through a designated grant program for
several years now).
I think the insight Rosenbaum (_WSJ_) brings to the discussion
has more to do with how these are financed. I have a colleague who claims
that art and exhibition exchange among museums has always been subject to a
barter system anyway; the Whitney/San Jose deal is just using a different
medium of exchange--$$$. The most provocotive idea in the piece for me was
the concept of imaging a global (or at least, wide-range) philanthropy by
giving in effect in one's own backyard.      Best,  JIM       p.s.*Who* let
the NYHS down?