The Akron Art Museum has put one of the two prints it owns by significant contemporary photographer Cindy Sherman up for sale with Christie’s Auction House. The 1981 photo, “Untitled #96,” from her “Centerfolds,” series depicts a young girl — as usual, portrayed by Sherman herself — in an orange sweater and orange and white plaid skirt clutching a torn-out newspaper classified page.
Akron Art Museum director Mitchell Kahan said in a press release,
The Akron Art Museum is extremely happy to partner with Christie’s on this sale. The result will be a new acquisitions endowment that generates significant growth for our collection. I am especially looking forward to continuing a commitment to Cindy Sherman by acquiring works made after the famous Centerfolds images.
News of the auction, which takes place May 8, has provoked mixed reactions.
Writer Judith Dobrzynski asks whether the deaccession is “Brave Or Foolhardy?”
Most museums tend to clean out works from the past when they sell, even though many directors have told me privately that they should be weeding out what they’ve bought since the 1970s. That’s partly because of undiscriminating buying: some museums admit privately to purchasing ”one of each” — that is, one example of many artists that somehow got buzz and critical acclaim for a moment, but have since dropped into to the 90 percent of all artists who will be ignored by art history. … But they fear selling for two reasons: they don’t want to offend a living artist and his/her dealer and they fear making a mistake, even if only a public-relations one.
On the other hand, she suggests,
Whatever you may think of Cindy Sherman, the current consensus is that she is an important artist. The Akron museum owns another Sherman work, also from 1981, officially Untitled #93 and nicknamed “The Black Sheets.” But is the one they’re selling better than the one they’re keeping? It is better known. And aren’t collections supposed to have depth? Even if Kahan finds a later work by Sherman, from a different series, might that be less enlightening than showing two from the same series?
Another copy of “Untitled #96” sold last year for nearly $4 million dollars, so the sale could provide an enormous boost to the museum’s $2 million acquisitions endowment. The Wall Street Journal suggests the price could exceed the $4.3 million record set for the sale of a single photograph. — Anastasia Pantsios
This article appears in Mar 21-27, 2012.
What a chunk of change! Lots of wine is going to be drank down there. A lot of artists who are real thirsty may want to hang there for a while. Kind of like hitting the lotto…Security may need to go up a bit..Maybe a few jobs will be created…Can’t be bad..Just converting an asset which has top value now…Wow! Over four million for a print. Sherman must be something..Never heard of her, but I don’t follow picture art much. I like writers and stories best as far as art is involved. I read your articles even when I am not interested because you are a good writer with a good mind. Writing and thinking are one when done well. When I get away from my anger and become my natural forgiving self, I write my best…I’ve just been so pissed off at so many things in society today that I can’t seem to get out of the anger mode. Any suggestions out there? And don’t just tell me I’m an asshole again..On yahoo I really get abused…Not as bad as Obama though…man, you should read some of the blatant racisim there is out there in the streets and behind closed doors. Anger is as high as it was in the late sixties…the difference is that the today peaceful protestors like OWS will not be subjected to too much police violence because everything is filmed now-a-days..Social Media has only just begun to be the major main stream news communication and polling design in the world. People vote electronically on everything they choose to stick their nose into..now that’s freedom of the press by golly..Fuckin A.
Cindy Sherman is pretty amazing… and your comment is valid enough, but for the love of visual aesthetic, Lenny, please learn to use the “Return/Enter” key!
Paragraphs are beautiful.
Damn clumsy fingers. Not Lenny; Kenny. My apologies. >_<