In his deeply researched study Martin Gammon squarely addresses a subject many art scholars and museum professionals shy away from. His nuanced interpretations and six very informative appendices make clear that the cultural benefits that may derive from institutional deaccessioning can be as subtle as the potential pitfalls are obvious.
Inge Reist, Director, Center for the History of Collecting, The Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library
Museums are known for their role of preserving culture for the benefit of society. The fact that many of these institutions have taken objects from their collections and sold them or exchanged them is a surprise to many. Martin Gammon breaks new ground in this deeply researched and thoroughly original study of an important cultural phenomenon.
Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
With its echo of Freud in the title, Deaccessioning and Its Discontents is as much a fascinating, penetrating study of psychological unease as it is an indispensable art-historical account.
Art Fund
Gammon, in his fascinating observation of the goings-on of American museums, is a new world man, [and] the case studies he presents in the book are extraordinary...
The Key Reporter
A valuable contribution to the literature on museums, filling gaps in our knowledge and offering thought-provoking insights about the formation and alteration of collections. Each book is beautifully printed and, for nerds like me, the appendices and notes amplify the authors' observations and invite further inquiry.
It is to the credit of Martin Gammon that his approach to the subject is not deeply polemical (although he certainly has views he wishes to express), but rather historical and analytical. After outlining his topic in a lengthy introduction, he presents first the British experience and then the American, with several extensive case studies and an appendix covering further notable cases from 1622 to 2014.
BURLINGTON MAGAZINE
