Last November, I wrote here about a proposal by Dean Sobel, director of the Clyfford Still Museum, to sell four works from Still’s gigantic collection (which are part of the estate of his widow, Patricia) before they are officially accessioned by the museum. The museum plans to use the money not for new acquisitions — Still (pictured, right) is dead, afterall, and it’s a one-artist museum — but for all museum activities.
No “accession,” no “deaccession,’ and presumably no furor, Sobel and the city of Denver (the actual beneficiary of the estate) thought. It still caused a minor furor, though.
But Sobel had done the right thing, announcing his idea and seeking court approval for the sale, which ideally will be made in a bundle to another museum.
Last Thursday, a circuit court in Maryland agreed to the petition. A sale can go ahead.
The museum is moving ahead, too: Ground was broken in December 2009 for a building designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture and located near the
Denver Art Museum, the Denver Public Library and the new Colorado History Museum. The museum has raised about $30 million so far, and opening is slated for next fall.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Estate of Clyfford Still