When Collectors Hold Art for Ransom

Neue Galerie Scraps a $50 Offer to See Its New Klimts

By CAROL VOGEL

Less than a week after announcing a special $50 opportunity to view its newly purchased Klimt portrait on a day its doors are normally shut, the Neue Galerie canceled that plan yesterday, saying the offer was misread by the public.

A museum spokesman, Scott Gutterman, said that a wave of callers had contacted the Neue Galerie yesterday leaving the museum with the impression that some found the price objectionable. The Neue Galerie had described the $50 ticket, which was to be offered each Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m. starting today, as a way for visitors to avoid crowds. “It was originally intended for members, who can get in for free,” Mr. Gutterman said of the Wednesday viewings. “But then we thought that we would offer the public a chance to come on Wednesdays for $50, when it would be less crowded.”

Museum members will still be welcome free on Wednesdays, he added.

He said the calls began after an Associated Press report on Monday afternoon called attention to the $50 offer.

Regular admission to the Neue Galerie, normally open from Thursday through Monday, is $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. An individual membership is $275 a year.

Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics magnate and a founder of the Neue Galerie, recently paid $135 million for the Klimt painting, a 1907 gold-flecked portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, a prominent hostess in turn-of-the-century Vienna. It is viewed as one of Klimt’s most magnificent works.

The painting went on view in a second-floor gallery at the Neue last week along with four other Klimt paintings that had been in the possession of Austrian museums for decades. Descendants of Ms. Bloch-Bauer had argued that the works had been looted by the Nazis during World War II and rightfully belonged to the family. After a long legal battle, Austria returned the works in January to Ms. Bloch-Bauer’s niece, Maria Altmann of Los Angeles.

The five-year-old Neue Galerie, in a Louis XIII-style mansion at Fifth Avenue and 86th Street in Manhattan, can accommodate only 350 people at a time. The gallery where the Klimts are on view can fit only about 70 people comfortably, Mr. Gutterman said.

The Neue Galerie’s about-face on the $50 viewing comes at a time of growing debate over the rising cost of museum tickets. Last week the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it was raising its suggested adult ticket price to $20 from $15, effective Aug. 1. The fee is not compulsory, but the Met, without giving specific numbers, says that many visitors pay the full suggested price.

The Museum of Modern Art raised its admission fee to $20 in November 2004 when it reopened after an $858 million expansion.

The Neue Galerie’s $50 offer is not without precedent. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has occasionally charged a higher admission price for viewings of special exhibitions on its normal closing day. Last fall it charged $50 for Monday tickets to a popular exhibition of van Gogh drawings.

So far about 4,500 people have visited the Klimt exhibition, which runs through Sept. 18, Mr. Gutterman said. He added that lines had formed sporadically.

The Klimts were previously exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

They include a second, more conventional portrait of Ms. Bloch-Bauer from 1912 and three landscapes: “Birch Forest” from 1903, “Apple Tree I” from 1912 and “Houses at Unterach on the Attersee,” from around 1916. - NY Times, Published: July 19, 2006

I remember years ago speaking to my friend Ohio-Greg after he had returned from what I believe was his first trip to Memphis. At the time, the Brooks Museum of Art charged some hefty prices just to enter the door. He was appalled at the thought of paying admission to a public museum and I must admit I’m right there with him. I suppose exceptions can be made for special exhibits but I still believe the purpose of museums, like libraries is to share knowledge and culture. I appreciate the fact that the Neue Gallerie is honestly just a private party masquerading as a corporate collection tax-right-off, deceptively acting like a “real” museum.

So who is responsible for this debacle?

Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics magnate and a founder of the Neue Galerie, recently paid $135 million for the Klimt painting, a 1907 gold-flecked portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, a prominent hostess in turn-of-the-century Vienna. It is viewed as one of Klimt’s most magnificent works.

Does having money give Lauder the right to hold culture for ransom? The Neue Galerie only repealed the $50 fee to squash an oncoming public relations nightmare. Everyday, corporations seem to come closer to establishing themselves as feudal lords. This is just proof that monetary wealth doesn’t always equal enlightenment. - DN