NY American Folk Art Museum May Close

The NY Times is reporting the American Folk Art Museum in New York City continues to have financial problems, and as a last resort may close and donate its collections to other institutions.  According to the article, the museums staff wishes to keep the museum open in some form, but there is also talk of the collections moving to the Smithsonian and/or the Brooklyn Museum which would keep the collection or major portions of it in NY. 

The museum has defaulted on its debt of $32 million which was used to finance the construction of a new building in the city.  The building was sold to the Museum of Modern Art, but left the American Folk Art Museum with very little cash flow for operations.

The NY Times reports

The museum’s president, Laura Parsons, said of the current situation: “The board took the first step of discharging its obligations to the bondholders — the next step is to determine what the best outcome for the museum and the art is.”

Ms. Parsons declined to go into greater detail, saying that the discussions were confidential.
Compared with the Brooklyn Museum, which has had to make hard choices in recent years about what parts of its own enormous holdings to keep, the Smithsonian would appear to have greater resources to take care of the folk collection. But there will most likely be pressure to keep some of the collection in New York, making a loan arrangement with the Brooklyn Museum appealing.

A spokeswoman for the Smithsonian Institution was on vacation and could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the Brooklyn Museum, Sally Williams, said that the museum’s director, Arnold Lehman, was out of town and that she had not been briefed on any discussions.

The folk art museum has suffered considerable bad fortune over the years. For example, its former chairman, Ralph O. Esmerian, promised to donate his collection of folk art, including a version of Edward Hicks’s “Peaceable Kingdom,” but Mr. Esmerian also put the painting up as collateral against money he owed, and in 2008 it was put up for auction. In July Mr. Esmerian, who is no longer on the board, was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud.

Click HERE to read the full NY Times article.