The Netherlands Dumps Government-Subsidized Art

In what seems like a breach of faith with Dutch contemporary artists, the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, a government agency, will gradually sell on eBay some 1,000 works, many of which were previously purchased for the national art collection as part of the government's program for subsidizing the output of professional artists.

Another 300 works, considered of better quality, will be auctioned in October at Venduehuis, an auction house in The Hague, according to an Agence France-Press article.

It appears that the permission of the artists was not sought, as is customary when U.S. museums sell works by living artists. Indeed, many museums rourtinely refrain from disposing of such works, so as not to injure artists' reputations.

AFP's Gerald de Hemptinne reports:

Five museums are also taking part in the initiative, which has sparked outrage among some of the artists whose work is up for sale....The [Institute for Cultural Heritage] manages about 100,000 works from the Dutch state's art collection. When the objects are not gracing the walls of Dutch museums, ministries or embassies they languish in depots.

The sales mark the dismantling of an unusual program, much admired by international artists, to remove some financial obstacles to the pursuit of creative careers, by subsidizing artists in exchange for works given to the state. The article does not mention who will receive proceeds from the sales---the artists, the institute, or both. More information about the institute and its collection is here (click on "3" at the top).

Meanwhile, a similar program, the Canada Council's Art Bank, sustained similar challenges in the 1990s, was forced to become self-sufficient (through rentals), established criteria "for identifying works that had never rented, for future divestment," and "purchased new work for the first time in 2000-2001," according to its website. "Despite the shift in emphasis from collecting to renting, the Art Bank has still succeeded in purchasing important works of art and will continue to do so in the future."

Maybe in this era of soaring prices for recent art school graduates, the notion of the starving artist, in need of a handout, is beginning to seem outmoded.