Brooklyn Museum Selling Off Brooklyn's Past
The Atlantic has a fascinating article in its June issue about the Brooklyn Museum’s efforts to sell off a collection of important terra cotta decorative carvings salvaged by a donor from construction sites around Brooklyn and Manhattan in 1950s. Ivan Karp, an 83-year-old art dealer who spearheaded the salvage effort and later donated hundreds of…
The Atlantic has a fascinating article in its June issue about the Brooklyn Museum’s efforts to sell off a collection of important terra cotta decorative carvings salvaged by a donor from construction sites around Brooklyn and Manhattan in 1950s. Ivan Karp, an 83-year-old art dealer who spearheaded the salvage effort and later donated hundreds of pieces to the Brooklyn Museum, is now understandably distraught that the museum, which has left many of the pieces exposed to the elements for the past decade, is planning to sell a large part of the collection off through the Harlem salvage dealer Evan Blum of Demolition Depot. This despite a 2007 letter from Arnold Lehman to Karp assuring him that whatever pieces the museum did not use in its redesigned sculpture garden would be returned to Karp, who started a small museum in Charlottesville in 1985 to house these types of objects. Here’s the part of the story when the writer informs Karp of the “deaccessioning” plans:
When I told him that the Brooklyn Museum was planning to auction off so many ornaments through Blum, Karp was astonished. If they’re deaccessioning to sell, that’s very discomfiting, he exclaimed. They should have offered them to me first to buy! As it happened, Karp had phoned Blum, whom he’d known and liked for decades, just the day before. Blum had told him that he was consulting with the museum about the expansion of the sculpture garden, but he did not mention anything about auctions.
Shaking a little, Karp began to leaf through a copy of the binder the museum had sent Blum, which I had brought to the gallery. Good grief! he cried at the sight of a carved brownstone tenement plaque of Abraham Lincoln, which had once been a centerpiece in the sculpture garden. That’s one of the most valuable pieces they have! It’s an historic American figure—how many like that have ever been carved by an anonymous person in homage to Lincoln? This is heartbreaking. A moment later, after peering at a majestic red terra-cotta boy, he said, They’re making serious blunders in many cases.
As he inspected the images, Karp shrank into his chair, until at last, looking very old and defeated, he announced he simply couldn’t look anymore.
Sad.
Update: After the jump, check out the letter to the editor of the Atlantic that was just sent by the Brooklyn Museum.
Ghosts of New York [The Atlantic]
Re: John Freeman Gill article in The Atlantic Monthly on the Brooklyn Museum Collection of Architectural Fragments
The Brooklyn Museum regrets that the author’s comments do not reflect the substantive content of his hours of conversation with Museum staff, or of the extensive and detailed information subsequently provided in response to his questions. The Brooklyn Museum always investigates a range of possibilities for public disposition of works that have entered the deaccession process (the first step in releasing objects from a Museum’s collection), but currently has no agreement with any sales venue regarding the sale of recently deaccessioned architectural fragments. The Museum looks forward to continuing our plans for the full installation of the architectural sculpture collection, in consultation with specialists in the field who in recent years have contributed to the first qualitative assessment of these holdings.
Arnold L. Lehman, Director Brooklyn Museum
Teresa A. Carbone, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art, Brooklyn Museum
I think you guys are blowing this completely out of proportion… simply because you have a soft spot for Brooklyneana.
I know Ivan Karp and his Anonymous Arts group is quite amazing. The town referenced above Charlotteville (no “s”) is home to the Karps and many of the OK Harris gallery artists in the summer time. The Karps have done an amazing history of Charlotteville that they display in a restored church in town and also have a bit of the terra cotta and other NYC building salvage there. Hopefully the Museum will do right after this kind of backlash.
I agree that this is shameful. If they don’t want the terra-cotta, which is also short sighted, especially for pieces such as the Lincoln piece mentioned, they should return them to Karp. At the very least, since those who are doing this are NOT experts on this matter, they should consult those who are, people such as Susan Tunik, of the Friends of Terra-Cotta, who could advise them of what pieces to keep and display, and what could be given back.
The Brooklyn Museum should be embarrassed and ashamed to pull such shenanigans, with carefully worded loopholes. It creates an immediate sense of distrust, which does not sit well in an institution of its magnitude and importance. Every museum has storerooms of objects they can’t display, and it’s understandable that from time to time, things have to go, but a promise is a promise. If you don’t want them, give them back to the donor.
Absolutely… I’m not claiming Señor Karp doesn’t have a legal claim, just that the quote from the 2007 letter doesn’t fulfill a “promise.” There are many points where he may or may not have a claim of “claw back” for these donations. But The Atlantic article didn’t lay out enough evidence to show this is the case… what it did lay out was a Museum selling some of its collection for revenue and the original donor upset by this.
This sounds like the great great great grandaughter of the Cadbury Chocolate company whining on the BBC News about Kraft Foods acquiring the company… he family legacy is collapsing before her eyes, etc. etc.
Also, I COMPLETELY disagree with the idea that the Brooklyn Museum should be in the business of preserving Brooklyn artifacts. Again, I will point you to the mission statement of the Brooklyn Historical Society above.
Oops — I didn’t refresh before posting. CGar covered largely the same turf. I’ll write off my time so you won’t be double-billed, tyburg.
tybur6,
Sorry to do a lawyer pile-on here. You are right that the quoted language seems to fall short of a promise. But I would not draw a conclusion either from that or Mr. B’s characterization. Whether Karp has a legal basis to claw the items back would require looking at the whole 2007 letter and any documents exchanged at the time of the donation setting forth or evidencing the terms of the donations and any rights Karp might have (or not).
Agreed, g man. Arnold Lehman is ruining the place.
Isn’t there a regular ‘Stoner contributor who knows Karp & could find out what the real story is?
Sounds like just the latest chapter in the Museum’s ongoing history of poor management, and a very unfortunate one.
And to give the collection to ultra-slimy dealer Evan Blum? Hopefully the pieces won’t be housed in a building he barely maintains, like his old shop in the East Village that was condemned.