News: No Sale for Trustees

By: Daniel Grant

February 2008

New York— The planned sale at Christie’s New York of four top-notch paintings from the 3,500-work collection in Randolph College’s Maier Museum of Art in Lynchburg, Virginia, is off—at least for now. A last-minute ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court in November disallowed the sale pending resolution of several claims, including one that the college is violating the terms under which it received the gift of the works. George Bellows’ 1912 “Men of the Docks” (est. $25–$35 million), Edward Hicks’ 1849 “Peaceable Kingdom” (est. $3–$4 million) and Ernest Martin Hennings’ “Through the Arroyo” (est. $1–$1.5 million) were slated for the November 29 American paintings sale, and, Rufino Tamayo’s 1945 “Troubadour” (est. $2–$3 million) was to appear in the Latin American sale on the 19th.

“Men of the Docks” was touted by Christie’s as a likely record breaker in the American paintings category and was described in the auction catalogue as “the most penetrating examination of the human condition” that Bellows had ever done. Representatives of Christie’s refused to comment on the withdrawal of the works.

Randolph, a struggling 116-year-old all-women’s college, had been dipping heavily into its $153 million endowment to balance the books and had been threatened with having its accreditation pulled. The planned sale of art was one of a number of strategies adopted to deal with the crisis; another was a decision by the trustees to make the school co-educational by 2011.

Outraged alumnae formed a group that raised money to bring a series of lawsuits to stop both the co-ed plan and the sale of the art. They allege that the works were donated—some as early as 1920—for the sole purpose of benefiting the education of women. “The art wouldn’t be sold if the school wasn’t going co-ed,” says Anne Yastremski, a 2005 alumna who is heading the group. She notes that the money is intended to hire athletic coaches for incoming male students and to make up for real and expected loss of alumnae support.
College officials countered that there are no restrictions on these gifts and, as they are assets of the institution, the trustees may do with them as they see fit to maintain the financial well-being of the school.

Randolph trustees had first discussed the idea of deaccessioning artwork in 2005, but two joint-ownership plans went nowhere. In May, Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, founder of Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, came to tour the museum’s collection but did not make an offer. According to Karol Lawson, then director of the Maier Museum, Walton “didn’t want a piece of this” because she had been “burned” by legal challenges when she tried earlier in the year to buy a half share of a Georgia O’Keeffe collection from Fisk University. On October 1, the four paintings were taken away to be sold at Christie’s. Lawson resigned the next day. Laura Katzman, a professor of art history who also resigned, says, “I understand that small, private, specialized colleges are struggling to survive, but at what point are you cashing in your values to stay alive?”

Things could change in May, when the court injunction expires. But considering the bad publicity, the condemnation of the proposed sale by a raft of arts and museum organizations, and the spreading sense that deaccessioned works bring legal hassles, the paintings may not bring their best prices, even if they do eventually sell.