A view of Amsterdam at midday. A dark forest with sunlight peeking through the trees as a woman washes clothes in a river. A young boy feeding a monkey as a man to his left holds back a swan.
These are scenes from three paintings owned by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, part of a batch of 10 European artworks obtained between 1933 and 1945 that FAMSF is now reviewing for their possible connection to Nazi-looted art.
The city’s largest arts institution, which oversees the de Young Museum and the California Legion of Honor, has in total some 100,000 pieces of art. It “stands as one of the most visited arts institutions in the United States,” according to its website.
Curious Objects: Museums and the Lure of the Sell-Off, with the PMA’s director and CEO Timothy Rub Editorial Staff
The Association of Art Museum Directors killed something of a sacred cow last year when it ruled that museums will be permitted to use funds from deaccessioned artworks previously strictly controlled to pay for a wider array of institutional costs. On the occasion of this year’s virtual Philadelphia Show art and antiques fair, Ben Miller speaks with the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s director and CEO Timothy Rub about the AAMD’s ruling and the ripple effects it might have throughout the museum world. In a wide-ranging conversation, which gets into the nitty gritty of collecting and deaccessioning habits and procedures, as well as fundraising niceties, Rub makes a strong case for continuing to keep the departments of museums and their fundraising efforts firmly separated.
Freeman s appoints Robin Nicholson as Art Museum Consultant
Robin Nicholson comes to Freemans with almost 35 years of experience in the art world.
PHILADELPHIA, PA
.-Freemans announced the appointment of Robin Nicholson to the role of Art Museum Consultant. Robin will play a key role within Freemans Museum Services department, offering consultation on collections policies, deaccessioning strategies, acquisitions, and consignments.
Robin Nicholson comes to Freemans with almost 35 years of experience in the art world. From 1987 to 1992 he worked in the commercial gallery sector; he was corporate art curator of the Drambuie Collection from 1992 to 2006, and since 2006 has worked with American art museums. He served as Deputy Director for Art and Education and Director of Exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (20062014), and subsequently as Executive Director of the Frick Pittsburgh (20142018), and Telfair Museums, Savannah (20192020).
Covid-19
Arts and Culture
“Save our museum!” Every day, my inbox fills up with new emails from museums asking for cash amid straitened circumstances. They’re asking for my donation at a time when they can’t offer guided tours, events with public speakers, or anything else in exchange. I’ve even received invitations to formal galas held entirely on Zoom, meaning that I’d be buying a ticket to my own dining room.
Museums are known for their hyperbolic fundraising, but this time they’re serious. In the U.S., museums are in dire straits. While they sometimes seem like the playgrounds of the elite, museums tend to run on tight margins and to rely on underpaid staff and unpaid interns for work. They don’t have much financial padding to make it through a pandemic and some won’t.
BBC News
By Lucy Williamson
image captionParis under occupation: Nazi Germany controlled the French capital from June 1940
Eighty years ago, Nazi officers entered a local bank in a sleepy corner of south-west France, and raided a safe deposit box there.
Hidden inside, they found a stack of artworks, including a painting by Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro, showing a shepherdess bathed in warm light greeting her flock.
image copyrightPatrice Schmidt/Musée d Orsay
The painting had been hidden there by a Jewish couple, Raoul and Yvonne Meyer, the heirs of famous French department store Galeries Lafayette. It was 1941, and France had already been under German control for a year. The Pissarro canvas disappeared into Nazi custody.