Guggenheim and SFMOMA Deaccession Major Artworks
Two American museums, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), are facing criticism for selling important postwar paintings at auction in the first half of 2019. Deaccessioning, the process of removing an artwork or object from a museum collection—usually by selling it—is controversial, especially for cultural institutions that receive public funding, as artworks often return to private collections. Both the Guggenheim and SFMOMA plan to use the proceeds from the sales for further acquisitions.
On March 31, Zao Wou-ki’s oil painting (1958)—which had been in the Guggenheim’s collection since 1964—sold for USD 14.8 million at Sotheby’s Modern Art Evening Sale in Hong Kong. The painting, a notable example of Zao’s formative “Oracle Bone” period, was donated to the Guggenheim by the first White House Counsel, Samuel I. Rosenman. Despite a renewed historical
