In what can only be described as a sad and desperate state of affairs, Detroit is seriously considering selling some of its valuable artwork in order to help pay down its enormous debts. It's a very small shot in the dark in hopes to overcome it's battle with bankruptcy. But it's somewhat unfitting for a city known for its rich culture and artistic history. I'm just guessing but I bet this will mark the first time in modern history that the starving artist analogy can be extended to encompass an entire metropolitan area.
The Christie's appraisers enter on Mondays, when the museum is closed, and either inspect what's on the walls or ask to see some of the thousands of works not on display, sometimes sending Detroit Institute of Arts technicians on half-day missions to find pieces in deep storage and prepare them for examination.
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People on the local cultural scene tend to think that it won't happen, that the city ultimately won't sell off some or all of this world-class art museum's collection to help cover the more than $18 billion in debt obligations cited in Detroit's recent bankruptcy filing.
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Such a sell-off would be unprecedented in the U.S. museum world, which operates under a code of ethics that allows the selling of artworks only for the purpose of buying more art. But then again, much of what's going on in U.S. history's largest municipal bankruptcy is unprecedented.
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