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?