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H.W. Janson
12017-04-02T10:25:46-07:00Samantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5c156232H. W. Jansonplain2017-05-05T12:57:03-07:00Samantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5c
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12017-04-02T10:25:01-07:00(Example) The Kemper Museum of Art at the University of Washington, St. Louis17plain2017-05-05T12:59:02-07:00The Kemper Museum of Art at Washington University, St. Louis illustrates how a museum may sell a significant portion of its collection to enact a change in the institution's mission.
Before 1943, the University Art Museum had a small and average collection of objects and artifacts which had been taken in with no "screening committee".[1]
However, when H.W. Janson, a famous art historian, became involved in the university, the faculty decided to give the collection a more focused direction. This led to a large deaccessioning of objects from the university collection. The school is estimated to have sold "approximately one-sixth of [Washington University’s] entire collection."[2]
From the sale of these artworks at Kende Galleries—the art gallery inside Gimbel Brothers Department Store in New York—Janson bought 26 works of modern art.[3]
Today, the Kemper Museum houses an important modern and contemporary collections. The museum has stayed committed to the collecting practices that it established over 70 years ago.
[1]H. W. Janson, “Centennial Address” (1981) in Sabine Eckmann, H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis: Washington University Gallery of Art, 2002), 45. [2] Janson, “The New Art Collection,” 201. [3] Janson, “The New Art Collection,” 202-204.