Bloomberg Writer: Detroit should sell artwork to more deserving city

By Steve Neavling on June 7, 2013264 Comments

The city of Detroit should sell off some of its vast art collection to a city that would appreciate it more, a national writer for Bloomberg boldly proclaimed in a piece for the international news service Thursday.

Virginia Postrel‘s piece, “Detroit’s Van Gogh Would Be Better Off in L.A.,” is certain to incense local art enthusiasts and others who believe the museum is part of the city’s cultural backbone. The region is still in shock after news surfaced last month that the city could lose some of its artwork under a potentially forthcoming bankruptcy filing.

“Parochial interests aside, however, great artworks shouldn’t be held hostage by a relatively unpopular museum in a declining region,” Postrel wrote. “The cause of art would be better served if they were sold to institutions in growing cities where museum attendance is more substantial and the visual arts are more appreciated than they’ve ever been in Detroit. Art lovers should stop equating the public good with the status quo.
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“

Ouch.

Postrel goes on to say that the DIA is heavily dependent on tax dollars because of the relative lack of interest in art.

“During the 20th century, the museum’s support group failed to build a significant endowment to subsidize operations,” she wrote. “Rather, in an extreme version of a common philanthropic pathology, contributors gave money almost entirely for adding artworks and buildings — increasing operating costs without providing money to cover them. As a result, the museum spent the century lurching from financial crisis to financial crisis.”

Never mind that more than 125,000 metro Detroiters approved a tax increase last year – during the drawn-out economic crisis, no less – to improve operations at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

“If buyers were limited to other museums, possibly even to museums in the U.S., the works wouldn’t disappear from public view,” Postrel wrote. “A sale could be a huge boon for art lovers (and tourists) in cities that had the bad luck to grow primarily in the second half of the 20th century – and that are still growing today. The public trust is no less served by art in Atlanta, Phoenix or Seattle than it is by art in Detroit.”

The bottom line, she argued, “The city bought those works, it owns them, and it should be able to sell them.”

It remains unclear whether a bankruptcy court would compel the city to sell off some of the work as part of an asset sale.

The Detroit Institute of Art’s collection features several works by Vincent van Gogh, including a self portrait, Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker,” paintings by Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Rembrandt, ancient sculptures, plus enormous murals of Detroit by Diego Rivera.

Artwork, Bankruptcy, Bloomberg, budget, Columnist, Detroit Institute of Arts, DIA, Public, steve, Taxes

Bloomberg Writer: Detroit should sell artwork to more deserving city added by Steve Neavling on June 7, 2013
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Steve Neavling

Steve Neavling lives and works in Detroit as an investigative journalist. His stories have uncovered corruption, led to arrests and reforms and prompted FBI investigations.