Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Can Michael Govan Pull LACMA Inside Out

April 30, 2013 by Marion Maneker

Michael Govan & Eli BroadDeep within the Wall Street Journal’s recent profile of LACMA’s Michael Govan is a paragraph that discusses one of the central issues of art museums in our time: their inability to display the vast majority of their holdings. Rival museum luminaries like Eli Broad have suggested creating lending-library like museums that would insure works are on display around the world instead of demurely waiting in storage. But numerous conservators and critics of mega-shows claim the constant movement stresses the art too much.

Govan envisions passersby watching curators set up exhibitions—activities typically shielded from the public. Rather than the usual 60 percent of museum space devoted to back-of-house uses, he wants to reverse the equation, and then some: As much as 80 percent of the square footage will house art on view to the public. Whole sections of LACMA’s collection—such as gems tucked away on the third floor of the Art of the Americas building—will be dusted off for the first time in years.

Many museums already have open storage and other accommodations to the surfeit of art on their hands but nothing that compares to Govan’s tantalizing inversion of the art museum.

If He Builds It, You Will Come (Wall Street Journal)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Rembrandt Stolen from LA’s Ritz-Carlton FoundRembrandt Stolen from LA’s Ritz-Carlton Found
  • Christie’s Announces $80m Francis Bacon for FriezeChristie’s Announces $80m Francis Bacon for Frieze
  • Indonesia’s MACAN Museum Anchors DevelopmentIndonesia’s MACAN Museum Anchors Development
  • ABMB: How Much for That Art? (pt.4)ABMB: How Much for That Art? (pt.4)
  • Breaking FakesBreaking Fakes
  • Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi Sale Confirmed at $75-80mLeonardo’s Salvator Mundi Sale Confirmed at $75-80m

Filed Under: Museums

About Marion Maneker

LiveArt

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor
 

Loading Comments...