ART

Check Out This Art Auction: A plan to sell off part of Czechoslovakia’s state art collections through Christie’s auction house has provoked concern that the nation’s cultural legacy may be liquidated for badly needed hard currency. The controversial sale, which Christie’s hopes to hold at its London sales rooms next fall, came to light in a recent issue of the Communist Party cultural weekly Kmen. Six museums, including the National Gallery and the State Jewish Museum, are drawing up as yet undisclosed lists of items for auction after Christie’s proposed the sale, to be managed through an official Czechoslovak body known as Art Centrum. However, the Prague Museum of Applied Arts, containing valuable pieces of Bohemian glassware and furniture, has refused to take part, deeming the proposal “wrong in its very essence.” According to a draft agreement with Christie’s, Art Centrum has suggested selling “excess items and damaged exhibits” so museums could obtain currency to fill in gaps in existing collections or to improve security and storage facilities.