Last year, Brandeis University announced it would close the Rose Art Museum and sell off its renowned modern art collection to cover the school’s budget shortfall. The result: condemnation, lawsuits from art donors and their families, student unrest, and cancelled alumni donations.
Brandeis now says it won’t sell the art after all — it will rent it out instead. The world of art museums has a specialized and genteel vocabulary. Selling off your collection is called “deaccessioning,” and renting out art may be called “loaning” or “collection-sharing.” If art loans are done for gain, we wonder if the IRS calls it “taxable.”
More:
“Rent-a-Rose: Sotheby’s Persuades Brandeis to Lend Collection for Profit,” Lee Rosenbaum, Culturegrrl.
“University considering alternative options to selling art from Rose collection,” Alana Abramson,The Brandeis Justice.
“University exploring alternatives to art sale,” Brandeis University press release.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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