Wednesday, April 22, 2009

What's the AAMD position on deaccessioning to resolve a lawsuit? (UPDATED)

The San Francisco Chronicle has the latest on the complicated Friede family lawsuits. Among other things, "[de Young] museum officials and [John] Friede agreed in March to auction off 76 items like masks, headrests and mortars. They expect to raise about $3.5 million."

UPDATE: Kate Taylor, who wrote about this mess for the New York Times in October, helps sort it out here: "[John] Friede’s brother and half-brother, Robert Friede and Thomas Jaffe, are pressuring him to pay approximately $10 million he owes them from the settlement of their mother’s estate, and against which he offered the collection as collateral. ... [T]he City of San Francisco, which has taken legal action on behalf of the de Young against the three brothers, will allow 76 works to be sold to pay off the debt to Mr. Jaffe and Robert Friede."