Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Now you tell us?

So, as everyone's probably heard by now, MASS MoCA finally decided that maybe it's not such a great idea to exhibit an artist's unfinished work against his wishes after all. You can read all about it in Geoff Edgers's page 1 story in today's Boston Globe.

Let's leave the reckoning of the damage done to artists' rights for another day, and return to our regularly scheduled programming. Like what's in the best interests of the people of the State of Tennessee. Theo Emery has the latest on the Fisk University story in today's New York Times: the school's board of trustees has "agreed in principle" to share ownership of the collection with Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum in exchange for $30 million. The deal is subject to approval by the Chancery Court. More from Callen Bair here. Lee Rosenbaum has a statement from the Tennessee Attorney General, including: "As we have told both institutions, a significant factor in our evaluation will be whether a reasonable alternative emerges that would allow the Stieglitz Collection to remain [in Tennessee] on a full-time basis." I posted some thoughts on the comparative merits of the Crystal Bridges offer here.