Whitney Museum acquired pictures by well-known black artists at a ridiculous price

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Has canceled his new exhibition: The Whitney Museum in New York

The Whitney Museum of American Art wanted to exhibit black artists. But because some of the artists protested against the planned exhibition, the New York house canceled the show.

What happened?

The exhibition "Collective Actions: Artist Interventions in a Time of Change" was supposed to revive the museum after the Corona-related forced break. Among other things, works by black artists should be shown, who reacted to the "Black Lives Matter" movement and the protests against police violence and racism. But the house bought some of the works of art for this very cheaply from charity sales. According to their own statements, the artists had auctioned the work there for good causes and a few dollars.

The artists learned by email that they should now be exhibited in the Whitney Museum, said photographer Gioncarlo Valentine on Twitter, for example. In it, the museum announced that one of his works had been purchased at a charity sale.

This is how photographer Dana Scruggs describes it to the "New York Times". Prints of her photos, which are otherwise printed in the "New York Times" or "Rolling Stone", for example, were sold once for 100 dollars each - in order to make art affordable for those who otherwise could not afford any of her photos. But that probably doesn't apply to the famous Whitney Museum in New York, Scruggs told the newspaper.

Free entry for life as compensation

The museum has neither asked for permission to run the exhibition nor offered appropriate remuneration for the show, the artists report. Scruggs only got lifelong free entry from the Kunsthaus in prospect. "Not that you decided to ask me, but NO, you cannot exhibit my work without my permission," she replied to the mail. Others, such as the photographer Gioncarlo Valentine, accused the Kunsthaus of exploiting black artists.

After many artists shared their outrage over the museum's actions on social networks and protested against the exhibition of their work, the Whitney Museum canceled the show.

A statement said that the artists had been heard and their protests had been heard. "We apologize for the way we handled the exhibition and for the pain and frustration our actions have caused."

As Scruggs sees it, the museum has behaved wrongly again. Instead of canceling the show, she told the New York Times, the museum should have paid the artists the full price for their work retrospectively. And show the exhibition.

evh