University of Iowa's Pollock: Possible Source of Flood-Recovery Cash?

PollMur.jpg
Jackson Pollock, "Mural," 1943, University of Iowa Art Museum

It's down-the-slippery-slope time again. Only this time that slope has been slicked by the Iowa floods. Brian Morelli of the Iowa City Press-Citizen reports:

The Iowa state Board of Regents will conduct a study to determine the value of one of University of Iowa's most prized and expensive possessions.

Regent Michael Gartner requested the study of Jackson Pollock's "Mural," which is part of the University of Iowa Museum of Art collection [given to it by legendary collector/dealer Peggy Guggenheim]. Gartner said the painting was estimated to be worth more than $150 million several years ago.

UI President Sally Mason said UI does not plan to sell the painting....Gartner said he is "not proposing the painting be sold," but that it would be good for the regents and the university to be aware of what options are out there as UI faces major expenses in flood recovery.

Appraising the painting can only mean that the university is thinking of monetizing it, whatever is now being said for public consumption. The Association of Art Museum Directors, the College Art Association and the Association of College & University Museums & Galleries should jump all over this one, as they did (to no avail, alas) in connection with Randolph College's Maier Museum art sales. I'm counting on AAMD's president, Michael Conforti, to make this his first sermon from his new bully pulpit.

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece June 30 on Iowa's Pollock. Pamela White, interim director of the university's disaster-evacuated art museum, then told Michael Judge of the WSJ:

We might be looking at building a new museum to house the collection. But I can assure you, "Mural" will be a part of that collection...
...or maybe not.

UPDATE: More CultureGrrl coverage of the Iowa brouhaha is here and here.
August 7, 2008 6:55 PM | |

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LEE ROSENBAUM LeeAcrop.jpg I'm a veteran cultural journalist who writes frequently for the Wall Street Journal's "Leisure & Arts" page. I am a regular cultural contributor on New York Public Radio (WNYC). I've appeared as an art-market commentator on BBC-TV and have published numerous Op-Ed pieces in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. I am author of The Complete Guide to Collecting Art (Knopf) and have lectured on cultural property issues at the New Acropolis Museum and the University of Pennsylvania, on deaccessioning at Columbia Law School and on museum governance at Seton Hall University.

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