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October 14, 2008
Corporate Art Collection Changes
Here's an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal Online about changes in corporate art collections - not just current news about what may happen to the large Lehman collection, but some historical comparison. The article discusses going-out-of-business sales like Arthur Andersen and corporate moves, whether into smaller spaces or just different kinds of space where art collections feel wrong. A dramatic example, Philip Morris becomes Altria and moves from New York City to Richmond - and begins collecting Virginia artists. There's even a placement service:
The question of what to do with no-longer-wanted company artwork received one answer from the New York-based Business Committee for the Arts, which in 2006 established the From Workplaces to Public Spaces program. In its first two years, the program has placed about 1,000 artworks deaccessioned by Manhattan-based businesses in 16 hospitals, schools and cultural organizations in the Greater New York area. Among the corporations that have donated posters and original artwork to the From Workplaces program are Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Pfizer, and the cumulative value of this art is in excess of $275,000. Among the recipients are Medgar Evers College, Hospital Audiences Inc., P.S. 20, Tools for Schools Inc., the Henry Street Settlement and Bronx-Lebanon Special Care Center.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at October 14, 2008 7:14 AM