Court Halts City Auction College’s Art

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The New York Sun

RICHMOND, Va. — A court barred Randolph College today from selling four paintings, including a Rafino Tamayo, at a New York auction this month to boost its endowment.

Christie’s auction house had planned to offer Tamayo’s “Trovador” at its Latin American sale on Monday.

The other three paintings — “Men of the Docks” by George Bellows, “A Peaceable Kingdom” by Edward Hicks, and “Through the Arroyo” by Ernest Hennings — were to be offered at Christie’s on November 29.

Officials at the private liberal arts college in Lynchburg hoped the paintings would bring at least $32 million. Christie’s estimated the Bellows painting alone could fetch as much as $35 million, which would be a record for a work of American art sold at auction.

Christie’s said in a statement that it was disappointed by the court’s ruling.

“We hope to have the opportunity to offer these exceptional paintings for sale at a later date, in support of Randolph College’s efforts to ensure its future,” the auction house said.

Opponents want the sale stopped while they challenge the college’s conversion from all-female to coeducational.

In addition, the group of students, alumnae, art donors, and former employees called the planned sale a breach of public trust. Although the school owns the paintings, they said, it has an ethical duty to keep and preserve them for the education and cultural enrichment of the students and the community.

College officials say the art sale would be the only way they could strengthen Randolph’s financial position before an upcoming review by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, an accrediting agency that has put the college on warning.

The paintings had been housed in the college’s Maier Museum but were transferred to Christie’s after the Randolph board voted to sell them.

In halting the sale, the Virginia Supreme Court lowered from $10 million to $1 million the bond which opponents must post to keep the injunction in force. The opponents, who had been unable to meet the previous deadline of Thursday to post the higher bond, now have until December 3 to come up with the lower bond.

If the new bond amount is posted by December 3, Randolph will be “enjoined from selling, assigning, transferring, or otherwise disposing” of the paintings for six months, the court said.


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