Richard Brauer, a nonagenarian artwork historical past professor who has opposed a controversial plan by Valparaiso College in Indiana to promote three key work from its assortment, stated he’ll request his title be stripped from its museum constructing, which at present honors him.
Brauer’s assertion, which was distributed to ARTnews by his lawyer on Thursday, comes after a current court docket ruling permitting the college to amend the phrases of the authorized belief that endowed the artworks. The change means the varsity is legally permitted to maneuver forward with the artwork sale.
One of many works the college plans to promote, Georgia O’Keeffe’s portray Rust Purple Hills (1930), was the second work the Brauer acquired for its assortment. The college stated it was value about $15 million, making it probably the most precious of the three items. Frederic Edwin Church’s Mountain Panorama was valued at $2 million, and Childe Hassam’s Silver Vale and the Golden Gate is valued at $3.5 million.
The college initiated plans final 12 months to promote the works to lift funds that may go to finishing a dorm renovation mission for freshman college students. Brauer argued in his assertion that the work are a cornerstone of a museum that has set Valparaiso aside from different small liberal artwork faculty. Gross sales of the works would increase an estimated $20 million. The museum has argued that it could actually now not afford to safeguard such precious works resulting from excessive safety prices.
Brauer first started instructing on the college in 1961, later overseeing what was then-termed the Valparaiso College Museum and Collections, housed in its Moellering Library. In his assertion, Brauer stated that his resolution to drop the lawsuit to halt the sale of the work is to keep away from “critical monetary danger” from ongoing authorized charges.
“I nonetheless maintain out hope the President and the Board of Administrators will again away from this very harmful wager,” Brauer stated in his assertion. Brauer stated that if the varsity finally ends up promoting the work, he’ll formally divest from faculty officers and the museum. “I will likely be ashamed to have my title related to this affair,” he stated.
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