The Change Mariner

Renting Museum Art: Show Me the Monet!

MSNBC:

That's where things get sticky, in terms of museum ethics. Ordinarily, not-for-profit museums make their money from private donations, box-office receipts, gift-shop sales and government support. But times are tough, with a huge falloff in funding and declines in cultural tourism.

The traditional cashless quid pro quo for lending art to other museums -- we'll lend you our Picasso if we can borrow your Matiss -- has been augmented by lending fees. But these money deals are still between nonprofits.

Boston's hiring out Monets to help Glimcher make money in Las Vegas (not to mention jacking up the demand for the other Monets that Pace Wildenstein has for sale) seems to break new ground.

Some say the Bellagio Gallery is a "for-profit museum" and destined to fail. "There is not one for-profit art museum in this country," says Ed Able, head of the American Association of Museums. "If it were possible to run an art museum as a for-profit entity, why do we not have any?" (In truth, what makes a museum a museum is a permanent collection. The Bellagio doesn't have one.)

Others, like L.A. Times art critic Christopher Knight, say that the MFA "ought to be ashamed of itself" for selling out to private interests. Responds MFA director Malcolm Rogers: "We are always exploring new ways of bringing in revenue.

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