Transparency Test: Iran v. Orange County

The good news: Tehran Bureau, the independent Iranian news site, is back online this morning after being censored much of yesterday. The bad news: When you click on the the "Collection Online" link of the Orange County Museum of Art site, it returns you to the logo animation—and then the home page. (In case you've missed it, OCMA director Dennis Szakacs has sold 18 California plein air paintings to a private collector at a steep discount and is taking a bit of heat for it. One of the sold paintings, William Wendt's Spring in the Canyon, was considered such a key work that it appears in the Collection Online button.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
The site isn't doing that for me, but artworks sold by OCMA are still included on the collex website. (Including and most notably: The Wendt.)
Anonymous said…
The broken link (as of noon June 16) is to the comprehensive collection database. This link is in the center of the home page. You can still access a collections page with highlights (link at upper left). I didn't see the Wendt there (they're probably working on the site right now.)
Anonymous said…
In fact the OCMA website still showed those early California arts in its collection until 6/16/09. Someone removed the link. In a way, the museum has been fooling donors and members for the past several months, because the artworks were sold in March according to the Times report.
Donald Frazell said…
They are a provincial museum for the noveau riche, and looks like they are making a bad bet dumping the old stuff, whose prices are rising, for contempt stuff, which will soon be in the dumpster.

As always the OC is behind the times, even when it was about overrated childish nonsense. Catching up to something that never should have been. Desperate to bring in those with money, over young people, and why museum ages keep on going up, and attendance down. Its irrelevant nonsense.

But at least I hope they will still have the Diebenkorn show, they have had very few shows worth going down to see. This one should be well worth it.

art collegia delenda est