Attention Met Museumologists: Fiscal 2008 Report Now Online

Albert Bierstadt, "Rocky Mountain Goats," ca. 1885, sold by the Met for $481,000

As I mentioned in passing here, the latest installment of Metropolitan Museum annual reports, always a must-read for museum wonks, is now online.

I've already told you about the operating deficit of $3.22 million for the year ended June 30, compared to the surplus of $2.63 million the previous year.

So what's the Met going to do about it?

The remedies suggested in the annual report, aside from job cuts by attrition, sound like nickel-and-diming:

Some of the potential mitigating actions that may be undertaken to dampen the impact of an economic downturn include evaluating [job] vacancies to determine if any could be eliminated; reviewing the use of temporary agencies and messenger services; evaluating the current use of newspaper and magazine subscriptions; and reviewing the operations of the Image Library, Education, and Editorial areas. There are opportunities for these areas to have enhanced revenue streams that create a business/commercial element while contributing to the fulfillment of the Museum's mission.

While they're searching for cost savings, does the Met really need to maintain a Geneva office, headed by director Philippe de Montebello's longtime associate director for exhibitions, Mahrukh Tarapor?

In all fairness, I should note that in last year's annual report, the chief financial officer, Olena Paslawsky, observed that the 2007 surplus was "largely due to several factors that are not likely to recur, including lower pension expenses resulting from changes in interest rates and gains on invested pension assets."

And that was before the current international financial blow-up.

But enough of finances. Let's move to collections. Some $48.93 million went towards acquisitions in fiscal 2008, compared to $27.49 million the previous year. Proceeds from art insurance and sales of objects totaled $7.03 million ($4.47 million in 2007).

Which brings us to the Objects Sold or Exchanged page, where we learn that in fiscal 2008, the Met disposed of seven works that were each valued at more than $50,000. These included a Bierstadt, above, and several Medieval objects. At this writing, the museum still hasn't gotten around to removing the Bierstadt from its online collection database. That painting was sold at Christies on May 21, 2008 for $481,000 (including buyer's premium)---something of a bargain against its $600,000-800,000 estimate.

Wait a minute! The Getty Museum's officials are known to have a thing about goats. Has anyone checked their collection database lately?