Deaccessioning Bernard Smol

The exhibition featured five paintings by the French artist Bernard Smol (1897-1969) that were in the museum’s collection. Due to limited storage space and evolving collecting philosophy, the museum staff decided to “deaccession,” or remove from its collection, all but one of Smol’s works. Visitors were able to vote on which one they would like the museum to keep, and curatorial staff took those votes into consideration (eventually deciding to keep two).

All five works are encaustic paintings on canvas of comparable dimensions, styles and significance. Encaustic is a technique of painting with hot beeswax mixed with pigments that creates a translucent but textured surface. The jewel-like quality of Smol’s paintings often drew comparisons to stained-glass windows by critics of his day. His typical subject matter included romantic landscapes and interiors populated with harlequins, dancers, bohemian poets and mystical figures that give the viewer a sense of experiencing a dream. The works have not been shown at the museum since their initial exhibition in 1959, around the time the museum’s founder and first director, Alfred Heber Holbrook, decided to purchase them. Several of them were loaned to Middle Georgia College shortly thereafter, for a traveling exhibition, but they were rarely viewed.

Deaccessioning is a lengthy and complex process. First, the museum must give public notice of its intent. The museum’s collections committee and Board of Advisors and UGA’s president must all approve that intent. Only then can the work be removed from the collection, often to be sold at public auction, to keep the process as transparent as possible. Proceeds, if the works is sold, must be used for acquisitions, to prevent monetizing the collection. Violation of appropriate deaccessioning procedure can lead to sanctions by such professional organizations as the Association of Art Museum Directors, of which the museum is a member. Sanctions can mean the loss of the ability to borrow works from other museums or even the loss of accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums. Museum director William U. Eiland has served on AAMD’s Deaccessioning Task Force and is an expert in the field.