The controversy over financing practices at art museums -- touched off by the fight between the Brooklyn Museum of Art and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani over last fall's "Sensation" exhibition -- took another unexpected turn recently when an official of the Art Dealers Association of America revealed that some museums ask for commissions or sales fees on works they are exhibiting, the New York Times reports.

While the official declined to name names, the Times found several museums that have asked for sales fees, although almost all say they have discontinued the practice. Critics argue that asking for commissions could create situations where the sales value of a piece overshadows its artistic merit, the Times reports.

In a survey of two dozen museums, the Times found only one -- the Minneapolis, Minn.-based Walker Art Center -- that said it still charged sales fees. However, several others had used art loan forms that requested commissions or handling fees at some point, although almost all said they had eliminated the provision, the Times reports.

Many of the museums that had the clause garnered very little money from it, if any at all, the Times reports. Some reported they weren't even aware of the clause until stumbling across it in recent years. Others said collectors and art dealers balked at the practice.

"We have never collected a commission," Lisa Dennison, deputy director and chief curator of New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, told the Times. "In an old version of our loan form we asked for a commission of 10 percent, but we dropped the provision about 10 years ago. It's a very difficult thing to enforce."

Museums that asked for commissions usually seemed to start the practice for one of two reasons, the Times reports. Some began asking for sales fees quite early in the last century, often as a way to fund acquisitions or because the museum grew out of an artists' association.

However, others began the practice at a time when the art market was booming while arts funding was being cut: the 1980's and 90's.

The Association of Art Museum Directors and the Association of American Museums do not include any mention of commissions in their ethics codes, but officials from both told the times that they were reviewing their policies and would likely address the issue in new codes, the Times reports.

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