Albright-Knox BlogBacks: Freudenheim and a Buffalo Art Keeper

The beaten but unbowed Tom Freudenheim and Katka Hammond, one of the Buffalo Art Keepers (now more appropriately called the Buffalo Art Losers), respond separately to Albright-Knox Post Mortem: A Complete Defeat.

Freudenheim writes:

It's not that I don't agree with you [that the outcome of the anti-deaccession campaign was, regrettably, a "complete defeat"]. It's just that I still retain a tiny bit of my youthful naiveté to believe that this could be the beginning of a revolution. I don't know another example in which local people have publicly pleaded with their museum not to sell treasures they love. But of course, cynicism will likely prevail.

Hammond writes:

I am one of the small band of Buffalo folks who gathered what steam we could in late January (much too late, I'm afraid) to oppose the Albright-Knox's selling off its antiquity masterpieces. We tried to stop the Gallery from gambling the house so to speak, in order to acquire new contemporary works. I've read your comments on this subject with interest, because I completely agree that exploiting past acquisitions is wrongheaded, short-sighted, and an arrogant view of the institution's relation to the primary community it is supposed to serve.

I am extremely sad that these pieces have not only left the Albright, but that they will most likely end up in private hands.