{"id":186200,"date":"2025-11-18T00:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/186200\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T00:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:33:10","slug":"the-phillips-collections-moves-forward-with-controversial-deaccession-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/186200\/","title":{"rendered":"The Phillips Collections moves forward with controversial deaccession plan."},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Phillips Collection<\/a> will proceed with plans to sell major works by Georgia O\u2019Keeffe, Arthur Dove<\/a>, and Georges Seurat<\/a> at Sotheby\u2019s next week, a move that has triggered sharp backlash from former curators, members of the Phillips family, and a faction of the museum\u2019s governing members board.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to The Washington Post<\/a>, the works\u2014long considered central to founder Duncan Phillips\u2019s vision\u2014will be offered at Sotheby\u2019s on November 20 as part of the auction house\u2019s marquee evening sales at its newly opened headquarters in the Breuer building on Madison Avenue. From the lot, O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s\u00a0Large Dark Red Leaves on White\u00a0(1925) carries an estimate of $6 million to $8 million, Seurat\u2019s cont\u00e9 crayon drawing is priced between $3 million and $5 million, and Dove\u2019s\u00a0Rose and Locust Stump(1943) is expected to fetch $1.2 million to $1.8 million.<\/p>\n

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\n\tDirector and CEO Jonathan Binstock, who joined the Phillips in March 2023, said proceeds will fund a permanently restricted endowment to commission new work by living artists. The strategy, he argued, aligns with Duncan Phillips\u2019s belief in supporting contemporary practitioners\u2014including his decades-long financial support of Dove.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut critics warn the sales will dismantle carefully built \u201cunits\u201d of key artists assembled by Duncan and Marjorie Phillips. \u201cI\u2019m deeply saddened and appalled,\u201d said Eliza Rathbone, the museum\u2019s chief curator emerita. Liza Phillips, the founders\u2019 granddaughter and chair of the members board, said the works \u201cbelong to the public\u201d and will likely \u201cgo into private hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe dispute, simmering for more than 18 months, culminated last week in an agreement between the trustees and members boards that allows next week\u2019s sales to move forward, but tightens future deaccessioning rules. The core collection will now be defined by\u00a0The Phillips Collection: A Summary Catalogue\u00a0(1985), a far more comprehensive publication than the museum\u2019s previous benchmark,\u00a0The Eye of Duncan Phillips\u00a0(1999). Works listed in the 1985 catalogue cannot be sold \u201cwithout special exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe upcoming auctions extend beyond the headline works. Sotheby\u2019s will also offer pieces from the Phillips by Anish Kapoor, Leland Bell, and Howard Mehring on November 19, and a Henri Fantin-Latour still life on November 21. A Picasso sculpture and a Milton Avery work on paper will appear in later sales.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe controversy unfolds amid broader national debates on deaccessioning. While long governed by strict norms from groups like the Association of Art Museum Directors, the practice has accelerated in recent years as museums confront financial pressures and shifting priorities. The Whitney Museum of American Art, for example, sold<\/a> Edward Hopper and Maurice Prendergast works in 2023 to deepen holdings of contemporary American artists\u2014moves that sparked criticism but remained within AAMD guidelines. Other institutions, including the Baltimore Museum of Art and SFMOMA, have faced intense scrutiny<\/a> for attempts to sell major works to diversify their collections or bolster endowments.<\/p>\n

\n\tProponents argue deaccessioning is a necessary tool to keep collections relevant. \u201cWe want to grow the collection,\u201d Whitney curator Jane Panetta told ARTnews last year, describing sales as essential to closing historical gaps. Museums such as MoMA and the Brooklyn Museum have likewise sold blue-chip works to fund acquisitions or collection care under pandemic-era rule changes.<\/p>\n

\n\tOpponents counter that selling foundational works violates public trust and risks sanctions. Critics of the Phillips plan argue the institution is parting with masterworks beloved by Duncan Phillips himself. Rathbone noted that, since the founders\u2019 tenure, \u201cno one has ever suggested deaccessioning masterworks acquired by Duncan Phillips.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBinstock maintains the Phillips must evolve. Calling the museum \u201can institution in its adolescence,\u201d he said expanding the representation of living artists is crucial to welcoming wider audiences. Duncan Phillips, he argued, \u201cdid not imagine the museum as trapped in amber.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, some supporters question why fundraising was not pursued more aggressively. \u201cWe never imagined this,\u201d said Liza Phillips.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe O\u2019Keeffe, Seurat, and Dove will test whether the Phillips\u2019s gamble on future-focused collecting can withstand the emotional and institutional weight of parting with its past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phillips Collection will proceed with plans to sell major works by Georgia O\u2019Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Georges…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[104687,365,362,363,364,366,18,117,104688,104689,19,17,35507,104690],"class_list":{"0":"post-186200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arthur-dove","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-georges-seurat","17":"tag-georgia-okeefe","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-sothebys","21":"tag-the-phillips-collection"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115567893343097703","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}