Museum's Plan To Sell 40 Works Has Art World Up In Arms
The auction, including two Rockwell paintings, would fund the Berkshire Museum's renovation and increase its endowment. But two prominent museum organizations say the sale violates fundamental ethics.
A museum in Western Massachusettts has found itself as the focus of a recurrent discussion in the art world: Is it ever okay for a museum to sell some of its works for financial reasons?
For Van Shields, executive director of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, the answer is a firm yes.
In a press release, the museum outlined a funding strategy for a "reinvention plan" in which it has "a heightened emphasis on science and history as well as the arts." The museum wants to raise $60 million to carry out its new vision: $40 million to add to its endowment, and $20 million to renovate its.
