Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Art for funding

L'Atlantide, 1927
Rene Magritte
oil on canvas
Rose Art Museum image: Metro West Daily News

A startling article in the NY Times yesterday prompted today's post. Brandeis University is closing its University art museum (Rose Art Museum) and selling off its significant collection Modern and Contemporary art due to financial woes. My immediate reaction is one of shock and sadness.

Comments to an article in the LA Times brings up some other thoughts on the topic regarding the lack of space for the collection, light foot traffic and the possibility of the art ending up in a more visible museum as well as those in opposition to the closing Brandeis University to Close Art Museum

The work I've chosen is currently in the collection of The Rose Art Museum. Their collection is not online so it was a little difficult finding an image of a work in the collection, but this Magritte was part of a recent exhibition "Invisible Rays: the Surrealism Legacy" at the Rose Art Museum. One of 60 works drawn from the collection, the collection is robust enough in surrealist art to be able to support this focused exhibition. More about Magritte another time, there are endless wonderful works.

Any thoughts on the selling of the art collection, please comment!

1 comment:

K'smom said...

This is a very sad thing, for Brandeis and for the art world, and for all of us- everyone is touched in some way by art, even when they are unaware of it.
Another sad thing is given the state of the economy, the money gained by this sale is unlikely to grow. It is like having a garage sale to pay this month's rent. What can you sell next month?