When it come to art purchases, there could  be a “Crystal Bridges” watch–it seems to me that the museum in Bentonville built largely with Alice Walton’s and the Walton Family Foundation’s money is spending more money buying art than another other U.S. museum currently open to the public.
For a short item in tomorrow’s New York Times that is now online (and is a better, longer version than what will be in the print version), I disclose five more big purchases: two sculptures (including Quarantania, at left) and two paintings by Louise Bourgeois purchased through Cheim & Read (worth about $35- to $40 million, all told) and the Jasper Johns’ “Flag” that sold at Sotheby’s last fall for $36 million.
Going back to previous announcements, I totaled up the museum’s purchases over the last several months as costing about $150 million; I also mention a few other, undisclosed purchases that the museum has made, and I identify Alice Walton as the buyer of a big Rothko and a Bourgeois for her personal collection–so far. They may go to the museum, someday.
So, Eli Broad may be spending more–I don’t know–but his museum in Los Angeles doesn’t open until the fall. It may be, too, that Mitchell Rales, who owns Glenstone (currently closed), Peter Brandt, whose space in Connecticut is open by appointment, or another big art buyer is stashing things away in their private museums. But public? If another public museum is buying more art than CB, I’d like to know. (Not acquiring–i.e., by gift–buying.)
Read the item here.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Christie’sÂ