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"Selling art can be a tempting proposition for colleges in financial woe"

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

The Des Moines Register has more on the possible Pollock deaccessioning at the University of Iowa (mentioned a couple days ago here).

I thought this bit was interesting:

"Gartner said the regents should determine the value of the painting if sold to a museum - not a private collector - that would agree to occasional viewings at the U of I. Gartner also wants to know how much the U of I spends to insure the painting and how much is spent on security around the work."

So, from the very beginning, the proponents of a sale (or I guess we should say, for now, proponents of the possibility of a sale) are being very careful to talk about a very narrow transaction -- one that keeps the work in the public domain, and maintains at least some access to it for the university community.

The article closes by noting that "for all the debate, the painting won't even be back in Iowa for some time. It's slated for a spring 2010 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City."

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on August 09, 2008 (boomark / email).