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Chelsea Art Museum Will Reopen, But With Significant Cuts

By DNAinfo Staff on October 7, 2010 9:56am  | Updated on October 7, 2010 9:57am

Black cloth covered wares at the Museum's bookshop Monday.
Black cloth covered wares at the Museum's bookshop Monday.
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DNAinfo/Tara Kyle

By Tara Kyle

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CHELSEA — After nearly two months behind locked doors, the lights are coming back on at the Chelsea Art Museum Thursday.

The museum, shuttered in mid-August due to $13 million of mortgage debt, has secured sufficient funding to reopen for at least another year, according to founder and director Dorothea Keeser. She declined to name the U.K.-based foundation coming to the museum's rescue because contracts will be signed later this week.

But when patrons are welcomed back Thursday evening, for the launch of a new exhibit called "Abstraction Revisited," they will find a changed museum.

"We cannot keep our staff, we cannot keep our complete building, and we cannot do the exhibits we planned to do for the next 10 years," said Keeser.

For the Chelsea Art Museum, which shut down in mid-August, the wait to reopen is almost over.
For the Chelsea Art Museum, which shut down in mid-August, the wait to reopen is almost over.
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DNAinfo/Tara Kyle

Before closing, the museum employed eight full time staffers and four interns. Now, only Keeser, a grant writer and the bookshop keeper will work full time. Keeser is also giving up the roof and bottom floor of the 556 West 22nd Street property, turning these spaces over to a neighbor who will develop them for special events use.

Decisions about the exhibits that will and will not move forward are still being made, but among the shows Keeser expects to lose is a retrospective on German expressionism.

The museum will continue its collaboration with the Streaming Museum.

Keeser made a risky move last winter to use the museum's permanent collection, valued at over $2 million, as collateral against a $350,000 loan.

While Keeser has now lost that collection, which consisted of works by modern European and American abstract artists including Robert Motherwell, Sam Francis and Per Kierkeby, she defended her decision.

"At the time, it was the only way to save the building and save the museum," Keeser said.

An earlier version of this story reported that Keeser said that the New York State Board of Education had revoked the museum's charter. That is not true.