Janie, Museums should avoid helping to influence the market indirectly or directly. It muddies the waters quite a bit for the public on what it is art museums are really about versus galleries. This is part of those ethical issues that art museums grapple with all the time. Our new director insists on adheence to those policies and I'm so glad. In the regional community we deal with there are lots of galleries and artists wanting to make a tie with an art museum. Daphne Holmes Curator of Education Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum --- Janie Welker <[log in to unmask]> wrote: From: Janie Welker <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:29:50 -0400 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: art gallery loans and ethics I work at a university art museum, and recently discussed purchasing work for our photography collection from a gallerist. After we discussed the artist at length and my interest in her, the gallerist informed me that they handle the estate of this artist, and are considering organizing an exhibition to go to 2 or 3 university museum/galleries. If we buy a print by the artist, there would be no participation fee. We would have to frame the prints and pay for transportation. I was considering a purchase anyway, and was quite interested in the offer -- it sounded like a great opportunity. They get the benefit of the work having been shown in museums and we get a good exhibition for a very minimal price, given that we were going to purchase a print anyway. My former institution made similar arrangements as a way of borrowing good art for the museum, and establishing a good working relationship with the gallery -- getting good deals, sometimes having the gallery steer collectors to us when they want to make gifts or need to make a donation for a tax write-off. My director here, however, felt that such an exhibition would be a conflict of interest, since the gallery is clearly interested in selling the prints after the exhibition closes and would benefit from the museum exposure. I was quite surpised at my director's response, but wondered if I need to rethink the issue. Just wondering what the practice is out there, and what people think about it. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).