Dispossession by attrition is a permanent condition

[sovay]

FUCKING BERNIE MADOFF.

I suppose I should be glad an art museum is more readily sacrificed than a classics department? (I suspect it's easier to sell off paintings than professors.) Presidential reassurance notwithstanding, I find it hard to believe it's merely a sign of the times: "The global financial crisis and deepening national economic recession require Brandeis to formulate and execute decisive plans that will position the university to emerge stronger for the benefit of our students . . ." Oh, damn it, damn it. I should have gone to their surrealist exhibition in November. Art is meant to be cherished, not flung to the winds. Where do I protest? Maybe I can paint it on a wall.

Comments

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

(I suspect it's easier to sell off paintings than professors.)

Maybe in the northeast, babe. Not where I went to school. (But then, popular legend had it my alma mater built its econ department--widely considered one of the best in the country--by finding people who'd been convicted of over x million in insider trading fraud.)

Art is meant to be cherished, not flung to the winds. Where do I protest? Maybe I can paint it on a wall.

I love the cognitive disjunction there, especially since it's actually a perfectly logical three sentences. But then, there are a whole bunch of mandala-makers who would likely disagree with you.

I'd have less of a problem with the idea if America still housed folks like the Arensbergs, who would simply let people come over to their house, wander around, and look at all the Braques and Duchamp hanging on their walls... in today's climate, though, I wonder how much of it will be seen again in my lifetime. sigh.

[sovay]

(But then, popular legend had it my alma mater built its econ department--widely considered one of the best in the country--by finding people who'd been convicted of over x million in insider trading fraud.)

(Somehow that registers as awesome while I still wish Madoff to be fined for everything he's got. I don't count the Shapiros as innocently fleeced victims, because it was a Ponzi scheme—did no one ever ask where the money was going and who was paying for the returns?—but I don't think universities and museums should suffer in the fallout.)

I love the cognitive disjunction there, especially since it's actually a perfectly logical three sentences.

Heh. There's also some irony, which I probably should have footnoted: Brandeis had some famously inefficient protests while I was there, of which the best involved a sit-in staged somewhere completely irrelevant, because to do so in the relevant location would have risked getting arrested. I'm sure there is already such a protest being organized around the Rose Art Museum. I just wish I could put together something more useful.

I'd have less of a problem with the idea if America still housed folks like the Arensbergs, who would simply let people come over to their house, wander around, and look at all the Braques and Duchamp hanging on their walls...

Yeah. I have a lot less problem with sand paintings than with publicly donated works disappearing into inaccessibly private collections.

[negothick.livejournal.com]

As some of those posting here have said, those who donated the artwork are very unhappy (except those who are safely dead, like the original Rose whom the museum honors). Trust the Wall Street Journal to discover some disgruntled donors:
"Jonathan Novak and David Genser, said they were shocked by the decision and hadn't been alerted in advance. "It's an absolute travesty," Mr. Genser said. 'I'm heartbroken. I would think that anyone who has any feeling for Brandeis or the Rose Museum is devastated by this.'"

But I am not at all surprised. The relationship between Brandeis administrations and this museum has been a vexed one. The renovation referred to above was needed because the museum had been physically neglected for years. I seem to remember that in the 90s there was talk about closing the museum, with others voicing the comment that one administrator made in the recent press release, "the Museum is peripheral to the University's mission." I do remember that the Art History department when I was a student didn't play well with the Abstract Expressionist emphasis of the Museum. There's a more canonical and enthusiastic history at http://www.brandeis.edu/rose/aboutus/history.html
Ironically: it's written in anticipation of the institution's 50th anniversary,as though it were already 2011.

[negothick.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I have such a jaundiced attitude toward Brandeis and especially anyone in an administrative position--including its donors and trustees--that I am not surprised that they a. didn't inquire closely about Madoff's returns b. might use this opportunity to get rid of "under-performing" departments c. might not see any advantage in having a world-class art museum on the campus and d. didn't anticipate protests in favor of keeping the museum open. But then I'm a product of the three worst years in the school's history, 1969-72.