VA Supreme Court Gives Big Win to Maier Museum Art Sale Opponents

The Virginia Supreme Court yesterday handed a major victory to the opponents of the sale of four works from the Maier Museum of Randolph College. At the very least, the auctions of the works planned for this month at Christie's, where they were to have been star lots, will be postponed.

The court denied the college's request that the temporary injunction imposed by Lynchburg, VA, Circuit Court on the sales be removed. Instead, it extended to Dec. 3 from Nov. 15 the deadline by which sales' opponents will be required to post a surety bond to secure a six-month injunction (which would run from Nov. 10 to the time when the case is decided on its merits) against the works' sale . What's more, the court slashed the amount of the bond from $10 million to $1 million.

With the temporary injunction now running until Dec. 3, the four Maier works will have to be withdrawn from Monday's Latin American art sale, where Tamayo's "Trovador," was to have been the highlight, and from the Nov. 29 American art sale, where Bellows' "Men of the Docks" was expected to have been top lot.

Anne Yastremski, executive director of Preserve Educational Choice, the group opposing the art sales, told the Lynchburg News & Advance yesterday that the reduced bond amount was "a lot more manageable," and added that she was not sure whether the entire $1 million would have to be raised, or whether a fraction of that could serve to guarantee full payment if the college ultimately prevailed in court.