Art Museums Revert to In-House Collections

In the article, “Money Tight, Museums Mine Their Own Collections” by Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times, many museums in the United States have reverted to only exhibiting in-house collections. Specifically, the article focuses on how the economy of the United States has shaped museum exhibitions and collections. In the article, Pogrebin contends that the economy in the U.S. has caused museums to look inward at existing collections rather than going out acquiring new ones, or even loaning other museums collections. The curators of various museums across the United States have put more effort into making in-house museum collections the focal point of exhibitions, supplemented by very few pieces of loaned collections. This has allowed many museums to increase their audiences and increase revenue flow, which is an effective means of saving precious endowment funds.

In the article, Pogrebin examines various museums across the United States such as the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Both of these museums have reverted to using in-house collections to attract revenue and save endowment funds. Specifically, the Cincinnati Art Museum received a 10 million dollar cut in endowment during the 2010-2011 fiscal year. As a result, the Cincinnati Art Museum, who was spending 2.5 million dollars a year on special exhibitions decided to exploit in-house collections like circus posters and Dutch contemporary design collections to supplement. The use of in-house collections gave the Cincinnati Art Museum a 30% increase in attendance. In comparison, the Metropolitan Museum of Art did a popular exhibit on various Picasso pieces, which drew in over 700,000 people in 2010.

Although these museums have been particularly effective in cutting costs and doing it without hurting revenue, some critics have complained that these museums are duplicating collection pieces in other exhibits. The article for example, mentions that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was criticized for using Picasso paintings that were “stodgy and bizarrely lopsided”. Another Museums, the Guggenheim Museum in New York overlapped works of art in two shows which caused a negative review of some exhibits. The director of the Guggenheim basically stated that the people who complained about the overlap were extreme insiders and that he believed it was okay to show exceptional works of art twice.