The Ethics of Selling Artworks: An Example from Michigan

December 19, 2014; Detroit Free Press

In 2013, the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, located in Grosse Point Shores, Michigan, sold one of its treasured artworks, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue du bosquet de Chateau Noir by Paul Cézanne, for $100 million. Even though the sale took place in 2013, this sale is being brought into discussion because of the recent national and international discourse of ethics in selling artwork. The artwork is now one of fifteen artworks that have been sold for $100 million or more, a deaccessioned sale of a long-term heirloom of a historic home at a time when the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) fights tooth and nail to avoid the sale of artworks during the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy process.

What is interesting is that the Ford House sale was withheld from the public at this time as not to “cause further problems for the DIA.” What is different with the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House is that this is a nonprofit historic home as opposed to a nonprofit museum. Museums tend to adhere, or should adhere, to the best practices set forth by the Association of Art Museum Directors. However, the Ford House is not an art museum per se, and therefore leaders of the House say the sale of the artwork does not break any ethical standards for historic homes.

These historic home priorities may be in contrast with standards set forth for how art museums deaccession works. According to Graham Beal, DIA’s director, typically art museums can use the funds from deaccession to buy more artworks, while other museums (like historic homes such as the Ford House) can use the funds more loosely to reinvest in their collections.

Two weeks ago, the Nonprofit Quarterly explored the ethics behind deaccessioned artwork sales by British museums. Could there be a correlation or road map between these multiple cases of deaccessioned artworks by nonprofits? In the case of the British museums, the artworks were sold mainly to curb financial hardships, which goes against standard ethical policy and led to the revocation of these museums’ accreditation. In the Ford case, the House did not have any debt at the time of the sale and will use the $100 million to create an endowment for preservation, conservation, and restoration of the Home’s overall collection and home maintenance.

Kathleen Mullins, president of the Ford House, said, “This was really a once-in-a-lifetime offer. […] The family thought it was a way to guarantee the estate would be taken care of the way Eleanor would have wanted.”

In that light, it could be seen that the sale was enacted with the mission of the historic home kept in mind. As we continue through a period when arts and cultural nonprofits (amongst many others) face greater financial difficulty along with heavier scrutiny when it comes to the public and accessibility, we will continue to see the “ethics” question raised when major artworks and collections are deaccessioned.—Jennifer Swan

About the author

Jennifer Swan

Jennifer Swan is currently the Associate Director for Arts Services Initiative of WNY (ASI). In this role Ms. Swan assists in positioning ASI as the link between the arts and cultural community and other sectors of the region. She provides outreach and administrative support to ASI’s partner networks including the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance (GBCA), Cultural Alliance of Niagara (CAN), and serves on the Arts Partners for Learning (APL) Leadership Team. Ms. Swan is the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization (DEC) Grant Program Coordinator for Erie and Niagara Counties. Previously Ms. Swan was the Business Manager for the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus where she was responsible for the day–to-day operations, working alongside the Board of Directors and committees. Major projects included the involvement of the Chorus in the Music Culture 716 collaborative and extending the Chorus’ regular season to include special performances at community events such as the National Historic Preservation Conference held in Buffalo in October 2011. Ms. Swan currently serves on the Chorus’ Concert, Marketing, and Nominating Committees. From 2009-2011 she managed and maintained the box office and front of house at the Lancaster Opera House, and orchestrated and organized an annual fundraiser for two years. Here she solicited donations and managed all aspects of the event from preparation to day-of activities. Her other arts and cultural work includes judging Congressman Higgins’ Congressional Student Art Competition in 2012, 2013, and 2014; past work includes Music is Art’s The Big Easy in Buffalo Committee, Volunteer Coordinator for Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center’s Artists and Models: Nocturminal fundraiser, Marketing/Concert Crew for Slee Hall at Lippes Concert Hall at the University at Buffalo, and Music Librarian and Marketing for the Amherst Chamber Ensembles. Additional work in the for-profit sector includes Promotions for Citadel Broadcasting and Righteous Babe Records, and management and marketing for several individual music projects. Ms. Swan has presented at a variety of community-wide engagements including to Leadership Buffalo’s Arts, Culture, and Tourism Day (June 2014), Daemen College’s Art and Community Class (April 2014), University at Buffalo’s Management Career Development Class (November 2013), and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Evening with the Professionals at Buffalo State College (October 2012). Ms. Swan has a MA in Arts Management from the University at Buffalo and a BA in Communications/Broadcasting with a minor in music from Buffalo State College. While at the University at Buffalo she traveled abroad with NUROPE (Nomadic University for Art, Philosophy, and Enterprise in Europe) to Sweden and Finland, completing an intensive scholarly program entitled Beyond Bergman and Nobel: Scandinavian Cultural Policy and Performing Arts. As a result of that academic excursion, Ms. Swan co-wrote an article forUB International titled “Summer School in Arts Management Held in Finland and Sweden.”

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