UNIVERSITY OF IOWA CONSIDERS SELLING POLLOCK; GRANT FOR BELLEVUE ARTS MUSEUM
The University of Iowa is looking into a potential sale of Mural, by Jackson Pollock, as a way to pay for sixteen million dollars in damage from June’s record floodwaters that entrenched the arts campus next to the Iowa River, reports the Des Moines Register. The entire campus has an estimated $232 million in flood damage. The Iowa Board of Regents decided at its meeting last Thursday to research how much the abstract painting would fetch if sold to a museum. The piece is a prized painting for the university’s museum, acquired nearly sixty years ago when it was not nearly worth its estimated hundred million dollars in value today. Iowa’s lieutenant governor, Patty Judge, who heads the office responsible for flood recovery, said there are options for paying for recovery besides selling artwork. “I think selling off our assets that we probably could never purchase again would not be something I would like to see happen,” Judge said Thursday. “I would like to think we would rebuild that art center, that that painting along with the other great paintings will be hanging there for my grandkids to see, just like I did and just like my children did.” Peggy Guggenheim first offered it to the in 1948 for a shipping cost of forty dollars, said Pam White, interim director of the university’s art museum.
In other news, the Bellevue Arts Museum has been awarded a $478,492 grant from the federal government’s Institute of Museum and Library Services. The grant will fund museum exhibitions and educational programs between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009. “We are very honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Michael Monroe, executive director of the museum. “For a museum so young—we just celebrated our third anniversary since reopening as a craft and design museum—this award is a true testament to the quality exhibitions and programs the museum offers.” Deputy director Renate Raymond, who led the application process, adds, “We could not have achieved this success without the help from our dedicated community. Countless supporters took action and wrote letters of support and approached their representatives.” The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums.
