Taub is hardly alone in fearing that schools may reuse online courses after the professors who designed them depart. It seems that a lot of the art collected by individuals and institutions is doomed to rot in storage, not because it isn't good art but because the artists are obscure. Remember the case of El Greco, who was all but forgotten for nearly 300 years after his death. When he was rediscovered, in the twentieth century, collectors descended on his home town of Toledo to buy up his paintings. The prices they offered seem scandalously low today, but the owners of those family heirlooms were more than willing to part with them.
Artists come in and out of fashion like hemlines and lapels.
Art that was once hot and goes out of fashion is also worth hanging on to. Consider the case of William Bouguereau. Rich and famous in his prime, he was despised and ridiculed even before his death, nearly a century ago, and is only now enjoying a revival. All rights reserved.