DMAC director: Opposed to any potential 'Mural' sale

Jeff Fleming is the director of the Des Moines Art Center. 

MAN: Are you opposed to any potential forced deaccessioning of the University of Iowa Museum of Art's Jackson Pollock, 1943's Mural?

Jeff Fleming: Of course I am. I think we need to start by saying that there needs to be clarity of information. I've spoken to [University of Iowa regent] Michael Gartner directly and expressed my opinion, and I've gotten the chain of events. According to him and according to my conversation he has not proposed selling it. He doubts that the regents would ever consider selling it.

[Ed.: On Aug. 8 the Des Moines Register reported: "Gartner said the regents should determine the value of the painting if sold to a museum - not a private collector - that would agree to occasional viewings at the U of I." In the same story Gartner said: "I'm not proposing the painting be sold, but I'm proposing we look to see that if the painting were sold (how much it would bring). A few years ago, Christie's or Sotheby's was asked about its value and it was enormous." UIMA interim director Pam White has told MAN and other outlets that there was already a recent insurance-related assessment of the painting. Apparently Gartner and the regents found that insufficient, and voted to approve a non-insurance-related assessment.]

MAN: You're the director of Iowa's biggest art museum. What's can or will be your role in stopping the regents' efforts? Is your position, among other things, a bully pulpit?

Fleming: No. I don't think that anyone should ever have a bully platform on which to speak. I think perhaps there are better ways to get things accomplished.

I think obviously you, that is we, need to have all the information and that we need to deal with the correct information, and then you can utilize and evaluate it and position your point of view, and position your activity in a variety of ways. Using the media is just one of them.

MAN: I live and work in Washington. As I've discussed this topic with people here they've often said things such as, 'Well, UIMA should sell it to somewhere on the east coast, where more people would see it.' That volume of eyeballs on the painting was the only thing that mattered. Presumably the same argument could be used to explain why you shouldn't have your superb Hopper or your Matisse. Why is that thinking wrong?

Fleming: Obviously I disagree with that kind of thinking. The citizens of Des Moines, the citizens within the state of Iowa have just as much right as citizens on the right coast or the left coast to experience the art of our time. That's the mission of our museum and I'm sure that's the mission of UIMA as well: To present to our audiences the finest quality work that can possibly be engaged. We, as many museums do, travel our collection all over the world via loans to exhibitions and other projects. Of course, there are many ways to provide information and to share works of art. So certainly our citizens have just as much right to have the finest work in their neighborhood as someone else.