Deaccessioned Art

Accessioning and deaccessioning are terms used to describe the process of objects entering or leaving a museum collection. Mia adheres to the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) guidelines on deaccessioning objects. Information about deaccessioned objects will be added as it becomes available. Funds garnered through the sale of deaccessioned works of art will be reapplied towards the purchase of new works of art in each respective curatorial area.

Mia may deaccession an object for a number of reasons. Below are definitions for the terms used to explain why the curators chose to remove an object from the collections.

Deaccessioning Terms

  • Duplicate example: An object that is an identical copy to another accessioned object, thus making it redundant to the collection.

  • Forgery: An object that is created, adapted, altered, or imitated with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentation.

  • Not relevant to the museum’s mission: An object outside of the museum’s collecting purview. For example, Mia would not collect dinosaur bones or geological specimens.

  • Poor or inherently unstable condition: An object or artwork that is not of requisite museum quality. Such objects are not suitable for display in the galleries; they are unsuitable for exhibition or study, and may have deteriorated beyond reasonable repair.

  • Repatriated: The return of cultural objects or works of art to their country of origin (usually referring to ancient art), or its former owners and/or heirs (usually referring to looted material). Contested objects range widely from sculptures and paintings to monuments and human remains.

  • Secondary Example: An object of which we have a primary, superior example. A secondary example is not of the first order of quality.

  • Extensive Restoration: This object shows evidence of heavy restoration with a majority of non-original components.