(Example) The Kemper Museum of Art at the University of Washington, St. Louis
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.
