How to build a building and buy art at same time

Last Thursday I featured a Q&A with Charlotte Eyerman, the St. Louis Art Museum curator who brought this Degas into the St. Louis Art Museum. And on Friday we examined the Walker, SLAM, and how they made news. Today, SLAM director Brent Benjamin explains how -- and why -- the museum found the money.

MAN: You're in the quiet phase of a capital campaign that will pay for your David Chipperfield-designed expansion and more. You're still asking people for tens of millions of dollars for that project. And one morning in walks a curator who wants $10 million for a painting. How did you react?

Brent Benjamin: I said, 'That looks terrific.' In a collection that has the strengths it does in the impressionist and post-impressionist era and in this early modern group of artists, that seemed to be a very important gap for us. And, of course, it was one we despaired of filling because there are relatively few such things available and we knew should one come available the price would be rather high. But one lives in hope.

So when Charlotte came to me... we talked about the price, what would be required [for us to be able to pay that], and certainly we considered whether or not there was a potential for a negative impact on the fundraising campaign that is underway in support of the expansion. Those are conversations that I had with my head of external affairs and with certain members of the board while we sent Charlotte off to see the painting in the flesh. She came back and was enthusiastic about it. So we discussed it.

The fact of the matter is, this is a thing that's possible [at this museum] and I'm thrilled that that is the case. It's really important to add great things to a great collection, and the reality is that one does not control the timing of that. I think that the excitement that this acquisition has already engendered in St. Louis about the museum and what's possible is going to do nothing but help the fundraising for the expansion.

MAN: So how did you put the $10 million together?

Benjamin: It's a complicated package. It's a combination of funds that includes donated money, monies from endowment funds restricted for the purchase of art at the museum, funds that come from net income from the museum shop and from the membership program, and it includes some funds from deaccessioning.

MAN: How do you, as the director, make a decision to go to donors and ask for more money, money that is for something else, when you have the priority (if that's the right word) of a capital campaign?

Benjamin: To the latter point, yes, you do have to prioritize. You can't do everything all at once. There's no question about that. But to the first part, about whether we can go back to an individual so quickly: I think in that case you really have to ask yourself, 'What is the level of vision and impact of what you're trying to do?' and that if the answer to that question is that you're going for immense impact, you can go back to individuals for [additional] support for these kinds of things. I was thrilled to get support from my board in this instance. The reaction wasn't you have to do this, it was ohmygosh the museum HAS to do this. One of the wonderful things that came out of this was incredible enthusiasm for acquisitions at this level being an important component of the program going forward.

MAN: Can you tell whether the Degas will have an impact on the capital campaign yet?

Benjamin: There are great works of art here that are in storage here because of a lack of gallery space. People understand that it's a really important thing to do. They also understand that the presence of gallery space will be important in convincing local collectors to give things to the museum, and we have collectors with museum-quality stuff in St. Louis and the process of [planning the building] has inspired people to give gifts already, which is terrific and exciting. So the Degas is an absolutely logical step toward that, to demonstrate that the collection continues to grow by purchase and by gift, and that the reason to build the expansion, to support the expansion, is to house that. If we're successful, we'll have to build again before too long. That's why we plan.

For example, we made a call to a long-term supporter and asked for support for the expansion, received it, and the collector said, 'Well, what about my collection?' It's not like we don't go into those conversations unprepared for that, but the degree to which that's been happening has been really reinforcing people's confidence that this is the right thing to do. Not only with their financial support, but also by making commitments of their collections.

MAN: When you open the new building, could you pull a Seattle and announce lots of collection donations at once?

Benjamin: [Laughs.] We're still a few years away. We haven't thought about it at that level of detail.