Iowa politicos try to sell Pollock’s “Mural”

This story was originally covered by PRI’s Here and Now. For more, listen to the audio above.

For the second time in three years, Iowa state legislators are looking to cash in on the state’s most valuable work of art. Republican lawmaker Scott Raecker has introduced a bill that would force the University of Iowa to sell Jackson Pollock’s giant painting “Mural” and use the money to give scholarships to art students.

Many in the artistic community have cried foul. The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and the American Association of Museums (AAM) issued a statement condemning the action saying they “deplore the treatment of works of art held in trust for the public as a ready source of cash.”

Other universities and colleges have tried similar gambles to raise cash. Brandeis University tried to close its art museum and sell its collection, though museum benefators sued and the sale is on hold. Randolph College and Fisk University have also tried selling art. In fact, lawmakers tried to force the sale of the Pollock painting once before, after floods damaged the University of Iowa.

“It’s a foolish idea, and it’s one that I suspect will keep coming up whenever a financial need is seen,” Christopher Knight, art critic of the Los Angeles Times, told PRI’s Here and Now. Knight says the move is an effort by people who view “public assets and public programs as entities that should be privatized.”

“If a university were to sell a painting like this it would ripple through the philanthropic world that in a way that politicians in Iowa haven’t considered,” according to Knight. “Who in their right mind ever give anything to the university again,” he asks. “Why would they want to donate to an institution that regards a gift simply as a financial asset rather than a cultural asset?”

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