PITTSFIELD, MASS.- Thirteen of 39 works approved for sale will be offered at May auctions by Sotheby’s, the
Berkshire Museum announced today. The sale of Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop will be completed with a nonprofit American museum which has agreed to place it on prominent display in its collection and loan the painting to the Norman Rockwell Museum for a period of up to two years.
“We are moving forward to secure the future of the Berkshire Museum. We had identified for deaccession and sale 40 works of the museum’s 40,000, protecting the vast majority of the museum’s collection,” said Elizabeth McGraw, President of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “We now hope we can raise what the museum needs by offering for sale fewer than half of the works originally anticipated. That’s good for the museum and the community we serve.”
On Thursday, April 5, Justice David Lowy of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court approved the joint proposal of the Museum and the Office of the Attorney General (AGO) authorizing the sale of works to generate the $55 million the museum needs to create a sustainable endowment ($40 million) and fund needed renovations and repairs to the Museum’s more than 100-year-old building. With the sale of Shuffleton’s Barbershop, and assessments of the value of other works, the Museum hopes sales at auction of 13 other works will raise the needed funds.
At the May auctions, the Museum will be offering these works:
• William Bouguereau, L’Agneau Nouveau-Né
• William Bouguereau, Les deux soeurs (La Bourrique)
• Alexander Calder, Double Arc and Sphere
• Frederic Edwin Church, Valley of Santa Isabel, New Granada
• Charles François Daubigny, Paysans allant aux champs (Le Matin)
• Adriaen Isenbrant, The Flight into Egypt
• Adriaen Isenbrant, The Temptation of Adam and Eve
• John La Farge, Magnolia
• Henry Moore, Three Seated Women
• Alberto Pasini, Faubourg de Constantinople
• Rembrandt Peale, George Washington
• Francis Picabia, Force Comique
• Norman Rockwell, Blacksmith’s Boy – Heel and Toe
The Museum notified the AGO of the identity of the 13 works selected for auction.
The Museum hopes to retain the other 26 works approved for sale, which include Albert Bierstadt’s Giant Redwood Trees of California, Alexander Calder’s Dancing Torpedo Shape, and Thomas Moran’s The Last Arrow.
In addition, in an effort to help keep works sold by the Berkshire Museum in the public domain, Sotheby’s and the Museum will offer extended payment terms to public institutions who will do so. While Sotheby’s standard payment schedule is 30 days, installments over six months or longer will be available to interested public institutions. *
“We recognize the strong feelings of those opposed to any sale. We worked hard, particularly in the case of Shuffleton’s Barbershop, to address their concerns and keep the painting in public view and even in the Berkshires for a time. We are hopeful that the sale of these other 13 works will allow us to hold the remaining works that had been approved for deaccession,” said McGraw.
McGraw said the Museum’s Board of Trustees carefully reviewed all of the 39 works that had been approved for sale, working to protect those works of higher value to fulfilling the museum’s mission of “Bringing people together for experiences that spark creativity and innovative thinking by making inspiring educational connections among art, history, and natural science.”
