BRANDEIS TO AUCTION HASSAM CANVAS; UNIVERSITY OF IOWA KEEPS ITS POLLOCK

The Rose Art Museum is selling a prized painting by Impressionist Childe Hassam that will fetch an estimated two to three million dollars at an auction later this month, reports the Boston Globe. Such a sale would be the largest in the Brandeis University museum’s history. Sunset at Sea, 1911, is defined by a red sky set against a shimmering green ocean and was donated to the Rose in 1958. It has rarely been displayed at the museum. Rose director Michael Rush said Sunset is being sold because the work does not fit into the museum’s mission of collecting and showing modern and contemporary art. Proceeds from the Christie’s auction, which takes place November 29, will be used to buy art in the future. Rush said that the Rose spent close to a year on the process that has led to the Hassam auction to make sure the museum addressed concerns that could be raised by the sale. He said he received the go-ahead from the Brandeis University administration, Rose trustees, representatives from the family that donated the picture, and the American Association of Museum Directors.

In other deaccessioning news, Artnet reports that the University of Iowa was considering selling Jackson Pollock’s Mural, 1943—one of his most famous paintings, donated to the school by Peggy Guggenheim—earlier this year, as part of a scheme to diversify its collection. School museum director Howard Collinson said that the advisory board “adamantly” opposed the sale, with fear of public outcry being a factor.