Brandeis Adminstration: "Wheezing Calf" Needs Rose Extract

Protesters believe that Brandeis is using the Rose Art Museum as an emergency source of cash. (Sarah Ewick)

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When Andy Warhol said that "department stores are kind of like museums," he boiled art down to its essential role as product. Last night a large group gathered at the Rose Art Museum to ask the Brandeis administration to disregard that formulation.

At issue is the continued existence of the museum. Brandeis wants to shut the Rose down and sell its holdings, which would be an immediate cash boon for the university's ailing endowment. Protesters gathered last night to urge the administration to change tack.

The Rose has all the brand names. A small Picasso, "Reclining Nude" from 1934, hangs a few feet from a 1962 Lichtenstein titled "Forget it! Forget me!" Upstairs, the contemporary works are no less impressive. The collection includes a quiet painting of the word "angel" by Ed Ruscha and a busier blast of line and shape by Julia Mehretu.The effect of these works in the smaller gallery spaces is distilled and potent.

In the museum's new wing of galleries at the rear of the building, director Michael Rush quickly proved the theory that every argument eventually results in someone calling his opponent Hitler. "You are not on the side of history," he told the administration.

Looking like a beaten man, Rush noted that no matter the outcome for the Rose itself, all the employee's contracts were up on June 30th. He asked that "the process" be respected, and seemed ready to gently meet his fate.

The details of that sad fate came down to money and lawyers. The market is so bad that what had been a "cash cow" was now a "wheezing cash calf." The laws governing charitable gifts meant that the death by a thousand cuts "was going to take a long time."

The crowd though was ready for red meat and action items. One woman, clearly asking who she should stick her pitchfork into, asked what she could do RIGHT NOW. The answer: "Check that section of the website."

Post contributed by Arlo Crawford.