Indiana’s Valparaiso University has finalized the controversial sale of two valuable paintings from the collection of its Brauer Museum of Art, and is in the process of selling the third. Facing budget shortfalls, the school is selling the paintings to fund renovation of freshman dormitories despite vocal protests and a lawsuit.
Valparaiso opted to sell three paintings, by Frederic Edwin Church, Childe Hassam, and Georgia O’Keeffe, which had been collectively valued at as high as $20 million. The Hassam and O’Keeffe canvases have been offloaded, and the sale of the Church is underway, according to the Chicago Tribune, which noted that the school expects the sale to bring in about $12 million.
Georgia O’Keeffe, Rust Red Hills (1930). Collection of the Brauer Museum of Art at Indiana’s Valparaiso University.
Moody’s Ratings downgraded the school two notches to a “junk” rating on April 30. The organization had already downgraded the school’s rating in 2023, party on news about the sale of the artwork, per the Tribune.
University officials revealed information about the sale at a hearing with the Valparaiso City Council on Monday. Council members showed some skepticism about whether the city should serve as a conduit for up to $117 million in general obligation bonds to fund renovations and to refinance some of the school’s debt if the school was already selling the artworks. (The school anticipates the actual figure would come in closer to $55 million.)
Childe Hassam, The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate (1914). Collection of the Brauer Museum of Art at Indiana’s Valparaiso University.
“If this was an option, can I ask why it wasn’t used instead of selling the artwork?” asked councilwoman Emilie Hunt, noting the prolonged controversy over the sale, according to the Tribune. The artwork was sold, responded the school’s bond counsel David Nie, because university officials “felt like we had a very great asset but it wasn’t doing the most from an operational capability for the campus to run. It was just a decision the university made.”
Mark Volpatti, the university’s senior vice president for finance and chief financial officer, confirmed the sale of the Hassam and O’Keeffe to the Tribune but said of the in-process Church sale that “there is no further information at this time.” He confirmed that the renovations on freshman dorms would come completely from the artwork sale. “We thought that was the best return on the investment,” he told the city council on Monday.
The school’s press office did not immediately respond to an inquiry for further details of the sale, including the identity of the broker or buyers.
Frederic E. Church, Mountain Landscape (c. 1849).
Courtesy of the Brauer Museum of Art at Indiana’s Valparaiso University.
In 2008, appraisers valued the Church painting, Mountain Landscape, at about $2 million. The following year, experts valued Hassam’s The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate at $3.5 million.
The biggest-ticket item, O’Keeffe’s Rust Red Hills, was estimated to be worth $15 million, according to a 2016 appraisal. The artist’s auction record stands at $44.4 million, paid for Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932) at Sotheby’s New York in 2014. Four more of her paintings have sold for more than $15 since then, according to the Artnet Price Database. Her Red Hills with Pedernal, White Clouds (1936), from the collection of Microsoft cofounder Paul G. Allen, fetched $12.3 million at Christie’s New York in 2022.
The school’s president, José Padilla, first notified the school of the possible sale in February 2023, citing a projected $9 million deficit for 2023–2024 and falling enrollment, from 4,500 to less than 2,800 over the previous five years.
The faculty senate issued a vote of no confidence for Padilla in the fall. He has announced that he will retire on December 31.
The Brauer Museum of Art at Indiana’s Valparaiso University. Photo courtesy of the Brauer Museum of art.
The plan to sell the works was met with an outcry from many in the university community, a lawsuit filed by namesake founding director Richard Brauer, and condemnation of the sale in a joint statement issued by the leadership of the Association of Art Museum Directors, the American Alliance of Museums, the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, and the Association of Art Museum Curators.
“This remains a fundamental ethical principle of the museum field, one which all institutions are obligated to respect: in no event shall funds from deaccessioned works be used for anything other than support for a museum’s collections, either through acquisitions or the direct care of works of art,” said the professional organizations’ statement.
Despite protests, a court ruled in November that the sale could go ahead.
Members of the public can weigh in on the debt proposal during a May 28 economic development commission meeting, reports Lakeshore Public Media, which notes that the proposal will then go back to the council for final approval and that the university hopes to close on the bond sale by the end of June.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content
