«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Culture Monster has reported on many art museums and we know firsthand just how humorless they can be. (No, we will not name names.) So we take our hats off today to New York's Museum of Modern Art for its ability to have a chuckle at its own expense. The institution has tweeted a recent blog post featuring a rejection letter that the museum sent to Andy Warhol in 1956. In the letter, the museum notifies Warhol that its collections committee has decided to turn down the drawing "Shoe," which the artist had offered as a gift. "I regret that I must report to you that the Committee decided, after careful consideration, that they ought not to accept it for our Collection," wrote the museum's Alfred H. Barr Jr."Let me explain that because of our severely limited gallery and storage space we must turn down many gifts offered, since we feel it is not fair to accept as a gift a work which may be shown only infrequently."

L.A Times
Oct 29 2009