The Art Sales Bankrolling the St. Louis Degas---UPDATED

Edgar Degas, "The Milliners," c.1898, 29 5/8 x 32 1/4 inches, St. Louis Art Museum

The St. Louis Art Museum's recently announced purchase of Degas' "The Milliners" for about $10 million is the latest example of the sell-to-buy syndrome discussed in my recent LA Times Op-Ed piece about the difficult collecting environment for museums.

When I spoke to him yesterday morning about what the museum calls its "financial package" for this purchase, St. Louis' director, Brent Benjamin, revealed to me that the museum had consigned 10 Impressionist and modern paintings to this fall's auctions at Christie's to help bankroll the purchase. He said he felt he had to check first with the auction house to see whether he could release to me the identities of those works and their presale estimates, which I received in the late afternoon. (Click link below for the full list.)

During our conversation, Benjamin conceded that this sale would go "a step beyond" his museum's usual policy of deaccessioning only works that had been deemed "inappropriate" for the collection. Three of the works, he said, had been exhibited in the museum's galleries---two only briefly, one "more frequently." (I am seeking information about the full exhibition histories for the 10 works.) He said that the consigned paintings had been on the museum's "notional list of works for sale when an extraordinary opportunity came up."

Benjamin would not say how much money he hoped to apply to the Degas from the deaccession proceeds, which, he said, depended on the results of the sales. Three of the works---the Matisse, Renoir and Metzinger (see linked list, below) will be in Christie's Nov. 6 evening sale of Impressionist/modern works. Others will be in the Nov. 7 Impressionist/modern day sale, the Nov. 29 American paintings sale (Cassatt) and the Oct. 29 19th-century European paintings sale (Harpignies).

Judging from the presale estimates, the deaccessioning could in fact yield enough cash to bankroll the whole thing. But the museum has stated that funds from endowment and earned income would also be part of the package. The official credit line on the work reads, "Director's Discretionary Fund and Museum Purchase by exchange." "Exchange" is museumspeak for "sale."

"The Milliners" is the first painting by Degas to enter St. Louis' collection. Another somewhat smaller (23 5/8 x 29 1/2 inches) Degas painting of milliners was acquired by the Getty Museum in 2005. Carol Vogel then reported (scroll down) in the NY Times:

The Getty bought the Degas from Aquavella Galleries in Manhattan; it declined to say what it had paid. Experts in the field believe the asking price was $6 million but say the Getty paid around $3.5 million.

The Getty's curator involved in that purchase, Charlotte Eyerman, is now the St. Louis curator of modern and contemporary art who negotiated the latest purchase.

Click the link below for the works being sold to pay for St. Louis' Degas.