Maier Massacre Revisited: National Gallery, Met, Royal Academy to Show Randolph College’s Expendable Bellows

George Bellows, "Men of the Docks," 1912

It's no longer posted among the Bellows works listed on the Maier Museum's collections website (search on "Bellows"). So I can only assume that "Men of the Docks," the celebrated first work to enter the collection of Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA (purchased from the artist in 1920 for $2,500), has been formally deaccessioned, although not yet sold by Christie's, the auction house to which it was consigned almost four years ago.

Ever since the painting was unceremoniously stripped off the museum's walls, along with three other paintings, in October 2007, it has been inaccessible to Randolph students and the general public. It was to be marketed at Christie's to bolster the college's financial resources, but the sale was delayed due to a lawsuit by opponents and by the recession-induced weakening of the market for American art.

Now comes word that "Docks" will emerge from seclusion in a big way: It will have what amounts to an international presale exhibition at three major museums.

Here is the text of a letter that went out today to the college's alums from John Klein, president of Randolph College:

Dear Alumnae and Alumni,

Randolph College was asked by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., to lend its painting, "Men of the Docks" (1912), by American artist George Bellows for the first comprehensive exhibition in three decades of the artist's prolific career. We are officially announcing this information to our community today.

"George Bellows (1882-1925)" will be on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. June 10 through Oct. 8, 2012; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Nov. 14, 2012, through Feb. 18, 2013; and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Mar. 16 through June 9, 2013. An accompanying catalogue will document and define Bellows unique place in the history of American art and in the annals of modernism.

The National Gallery of Art believes that the College's painting is an important addition to the retrospective, which includes 140 paintings, drawings, and lithographs by Bellows. It is a rare opportunity to honor and remember one of America's greatest artists.

Randolph College is honored to lend to an exhibition with such a far-reaching educational benefit. It is also our hope that the exhibition will provide the opportunity for members of our community to view "Men of the Docks" in the context of Bellows' career....

I know that you have fond memories of "Men of the Docks" from when you were a student at the College. Despite the necessary decision [emphasis added] in 2007 to sell four paintings from our collection, the College's commitment to both art education and the use of its collection as an integral part of that education endures. We wanted you to be among the first to know about this opportunity to lend this painting to such an important exhibition.

Since Klein is still calling his decision to sell "necessary," one assumes that the painting is still open for offers, which may now become more numerous and attractive thanks to the museum exposure. Or, alternatively, it may be a value-enhanced candidate for future public auction. Museums should not allow themselves to be used as marketing tools, showing works that they know may be sold off their walls or soon thereafter.

As CultureGrrl readers may remember, one of the first acts (last June) of the Association of Art Museum Directors under its new president, Dan Monroe, was to strongly reaffirm its condemnation of Randolph's plan to monetize its art. If the Bellows has (in Klein's words) "far-reaching educational benefit," it should at the very least have been kept at the Maier for the educational benefit of Randolph's own students, until market conditions were deemed sufficiently improved for this deplorable sale to go forward.

I think Randolph is in urgent need of a Brandeis Solution---a new president who appreciates the centrality of art to the institution's educational mission and who understands the importance of observing the principles of responsible museum stewardship.

I don't have to bellow any further about the Bellows. Ellen Agnew, who resigned her position as associate director of the Maier in protest against the deaccessions, has passionately done it for me:

Unbelievable, but unfortunately not surprising. Deny students and community members (whose predecessors purchased the painting from Bellows) the benefits of the painting for four years while it languished in Christie's storage, and then prostitute it publicly as a way to promote it and increase its value for subsequent sale. Shame on Randolph College and the National Gallery of Art.