Part of a year-end series revisiting subjects of some of our most popular arts articles of the year.
For the art world, 2020 was the year that the Black Lives Matter movement spurred a deeper conversation about inclusion and equity, ultimately leading some museums to sell off works by certain artists usually white, often male ostensibly to diversify their permanent collections.
While deaccessioning pieces from collections is not unheard of, museums have historically followed ethical guidelines and invoked the process only when art is damaged or decided to be fake, or when it no longer fits their mission. But then COVID-19 came along.
Will a looted Pissarro end up in Oklahoma, or France?
Camille Pissarro, Shepherdess Bringing In Sheep, 1886.
by Doreen Carvajal
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- For more than 70 years, Léone Meyers family has fought to reclaim a looted painting, and yet she cannot bear the thought of displaying it in her Left Bank home, across from the River Seine.
The small work, by Camille Pissarro, shows a shepherdess tending her flock, and hangs not far away at the Musée dOrsay, with other precious French impressionist paintings. But the peaceful countryside scene from 1886 is fraught with a backstory of plunder, family tragedy and legal battles that stretch from Paris to Oklahoma.
A director confronts âglaring statisticsâ in her museumâs collection
By Diane Bair and Pamela Wright Globe Correspondent,Updated December 18, 2020, 2:53 p.m.
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Min Jung Kim is director and CEO of Connecticutâs New Britain Museum of American Art.G. L. Kohuth/Courtesy New Britain Museum of American Art
Min Jung Kim, director and CEO of Connecticutâs New Britain Museum of American Art, is a first-generation immigrant, born and raised in Seoul. She came to the United States to attend Wheaton College and later worked with institutions including the Guggenheim and the Louvre. She served as deputy director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University before joining the New Britain Museum of American Art five years ago. We caught up with Kim at the museum last month to talk about her views on American art, the museumâs new 2020/20+ Women initiative, and her overall vision for the institution â established in 1903,
Will a Looted Pissarro End Up in Oklahoma, or France?
A painting by the French Impressionist artist, with a back story of plunder and family tragedy, is at the center of courtroom battles on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep,” an 1886 painting by Pissaro, was looted from Léone Meyer’s family by the Nazis.Credit.Musée d’Orsay
Dec. 17, 2020
PARIS For more than 70 years, Léone Meyer’s family has fought to reclaim a looted painting, and yet she cannot bear the thought of displaying it in her Left Bank home, across from the River Seine.
by Jasmyne Keimig • Dec 14, 2020 at 8:55 am
With the way things are going, it might be a while before we re all able to do this again. Courtesy of SAM/L. Fried
This year has been rough for everyone, and that includes art institutions. With government-mandated closures, reduced capacity, and weary art patrons, museums are collectively looking at a potential loss of close to $30 billion. One survey found 30% of museums are unsure if they ll make it through the pandemic. That could mean no more rainy Sunday afternoons wandering around a museum and overthinking 139-year-old bubbles.
This crisis has also spawned a debate over deaccessioning, the process through which museums sell off pieces in their collections to raise funds. In April, the Association of Art Museum Directors loosened regulations around the practice to allow more financial flexibility. Museums like the Baltimore Museum of Art, Everson Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum