Three cornerstone paintings from the Brauer Museum of Art on the Valparaiso University campus, including one by Georgia O’Keeffe that has been displayed in museums across the globe, will be auctioned off to fund dorm renovations for first-year students after a Porter County magistrate ruled the sale could proceed.
The ruling, by Porter Superior Court Magistrate Ana Osan, came Aug. 29, the day after Richard Brauer, the museum’s namesake and founding director, withdrew his attempt to intervene and halt the court amending the trust through which the paintings were purchased.
In a note to the campus Wednesday morning, José Padilla, the university’s president, said he was “pleased to report” that the petition to amend the trust allowing for the sale of the paintings had been approved, “completing the due diligence required for the artworks’ sale.”
“As of now, a definitive timeline for the sale has not been established. The artwork will be stored securely at an off-site facility until the sale is finalized. Following the completion of the sale, work on dorm renovation will begin,” Padilla said.
“Although this process has been lengthy, I remain dedicated to pursuing opportunities that will ensure the highest quality experiences for our students.”
The ruling came as a disappointment to supporters of both Richard Brauer and the museum, including John Ruff, a senior professor of English at the university.
“I’m not absolutely surprised but I did hold out hope that a person entrusted with a decision of such importance would ask some questions,” he said of the magistrate assigned the case.
Padilla first announced the possible sale of the artwork in February 2023, with plans to use the proceeds from the sale of Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Rust Red Hills,” Frederic E. Church’s “Mountain Landscape” and “The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate” by Childe Hassam, to fund dorm renovations for first-year students.
“The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate” by Childe Hassam at the Brauer Museum of Art on the Valparaiso University campus in Valparaiso, Indiana Friday, February 10, 2023. Campus and community members continue to react to the announcement of the pending sale of O’Keeffe’s and two other works to fund first-year student dorm renovations. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune)
The announcement generated widespread criticism from the art world and the campus. In the ensuing months, as part of budget cutbacks, the university fired Jonathan Canning, the museum’s director and curator, and closed the museum to the public and the campus in June.
Brauer has threatened to remove his name from the museum if the university sold the paintings.
According to appraisals received by the university, the fair market value of the O’Keeffe is estimated at $10.5 million to $15 million; the Hassam, between $1 million and $3.5 million; and the Church at $1 million to $3 million.
University officials removed the paintings from the museum and put them in a secure, off-site location on Sept. 12 out of security concerns. Ruff found that disappointing as well since they had been on display for almost 70 years without any issues.
The university said in its petition to amend the Percy H. Sloan Trust, which paid for two of the paintings directly and provided funding for the third, that funds from the sale would be used to renovate freshman dorms, “and create therein the ‘Sloan Gallery of American Paintings’ in order to directly display other works of the Sloan collection to students, all of which is intended to increase student enrollment and more consistently honor Sloan’s intent of furthering conservative art and art education so far as is possible and as is consistent with the general plans of Valparaiso University.”
Dick Brauer, the founder of the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University, pauses while speaking at Pines Village Retirement Communities in Valparaiso, Indiana Monday, February 6, 2023. Brauer has said if the university plans to sell millions of dollars in artwork he wants his name removed from the museum. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune)
The university also argued in its petition that two of the three paintings weren’t “conservative” in nature and therefore did not fit in with the Sloan collection or the tenets of the trust, and said that Brauer knew as much when he purchased the paintings. Brauer and his supporters have disputed the notion that he violated the trust and said all of the paintings he purchased were vetted at the time.
The sale of the artwork to renovate the dorms, the university argued in its petition, would help increase student enrollment. The university is facing a $9 million deficit this fiscal year, and the cost to renovate the museum to securely store the paintings would cost $50,000 to $100,000, with museum security guards and front desk staff costing $150,000 in salaries annually.
“The O’Keeffe, Hassam, and Church paintings have all substantially appreciated in value such that Valparaiso University can no longer, as a practical matter, securely display them without incurring substantial capital improvement costs and recurring labor costs for security, which has resulted in those paintings being moved to storage,” Osan said in her ruling, going on to note the university’s operating deficit, its decline in enrollment and its lack of funding to securely display the paintings.
“Given those circumstances the Court finds that it is no longer economically or practically feasible to display those three paintings, and that keeping those three paintings in storage would only impair, not enhance, the original purpose of the Trust to utilize the Collection, so far as possible, and as is consistent with the general plans of Valparaiso University and to serve and promote conservative art and the causes of art education in a practical and cultural way,” Osan wrote.
Under the tenets of the trust established by Sloan, any sale proceeds were to be reinvested back into the collection through the purchase of additional artwork.
Osan found that impractical given the university’s financial situation.
Senior research professor John Ruff pauses while speaking about the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana Monday, February 6, 2023. Ruff has long been involved with the museum and is concerned about recent moves to sell portions of its collection. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune)
“The Court also finds that it would be wasteful to use any proceeds from any sale of those three paintings for the purpose of purchasing more works of art for the Collection given that Valparaiso University already lacks the capacity to display the works that it currently has, let alone additional works.”
Osan gave the go-ahead for Valparaiso University to proceed with the plans to sell the artwork, use the funds to renovate the dorms and create a gallery, as it presented in its petition to the court.
“Specifically, the proposal described in the Petition to sell the O’Keeffe, Hassam, and Church paintings would relieve Valparaiso University of the burden and expense of improving a facility and more security guards to securely display them, put that property to productive use, and generate substantial funds for it to increase its enrollment and thereby increase the number of students exposed to conservative art and art education generally which was Sloan’s general charitable objective,” Osan said in her ruling.
Osan’s ruling marks the end of the attempts to stop the sale and keep the paintings on campus at the museum.
Entrance of the Brauer Museum of Art on the Valparaiso University campus in Valparaiso, Indiana Friday, February 10, 2023. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune)
“This is it. They’re going to pick an auction house now,” said Portage attorney Patrick McEuen, who has been involved in the case since last year, representing Brauer and other museum supporters through two court attempts to stop the sale of the artwork.
The news wasn’t a surprise, McEuen said Wednesday, after the filing became public.
“I’m disappointed in the Attorney General’s Office,” he said of the office, led by Munster native Todd Rokita. “We anticipated that there would be some attempt to prove the petition and instead, they capitulated. It’s not the way the government is supposed to function.”
Ruff called the situation “a lose-lose” from the start, including the loss of Canning and the museum’s closure, compounded by the sale of the paintings.
“It’s a terrible shame. No plans have been mentioned to reopen the Brauer. That’s a violation of the trust in itself,” he said.
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
