Today, more than a month after Randolph College announced the sale of its beautiful painting, Men of the Docks, by George Bellows, to raise money for its endowment, the Association of Art Museum Directors slapped the Maier Museum there (shown at left) with sanctions — “a more stringent step than censure,” a step it had already take, AAMD said, adding:
The sanctions will include instructions to our members to suspend any loans of works of art to and any collaboration on exhibitions and programs with the Maier Museum of Art.
The group also “urges the College to stop this practice, which not only erodes the credibility and good standing of the Maier Museum, but also affects all art museums and the trust that the public has placed in them.”
I oppose the sale as well, but am pleased at least that the painting is going to the National Gallery in London, where it will be seen by many.
The AAMD statement noted two significant occurrences.
When the Randolph College’s plan to deaccession and sell works from the collection of the Maier Museum to support the operations of the College became public in 2007, AAMD contacted the College leadership in the hope that AAMD could offer assistance in investigating alternatives to address these challenges. Unfortunately, the College continued on this path and in 2008 sold Rufino Tamayo’s painting Trovador. As a result, AAMD censured the Maier Museum of Art to signal its objection to this action and to endeavor to discourage the College from selling works from its collection for this purpose in the future.
And:
Following the sale of George Bellows’ Men of the Docks in February 2014, AAMD once again reached out to Randolph College to encourage the College to find other solutions to its need to secure additional resources for its operations. Unfortunately, the College did not express any willingness to cease its deaccessioning plans, but rather simply restated its rationale for doing so.
While I find it hard to conjecture what AAMD could have done for Randolph, the intention was good.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Maier Museum