The bill would force the sale of the University owned Pollock painting, "Mural" in order to set up art scholarships at the University. The bill would require the painting to be returned for 3 months every four years to exhibit and for students to study. You may recall that when the University of Iowa art museum was flooded a couple years back (click HERE to see the previous AW Blog post on the Pollock) there was a controvery over what to do with the Pollock.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports
A bill introduced today in the Iowa House calls on the University of Iowa to sell its famous Jackson Pollock “Mural” painting, valued at $140 million, to set up a trust fund for student scholarships.
Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the funds would go into an endowment that could provide $5 million a year for scholarships for resident students at the UI majoring in art. If the interest drawn down annually totaled more than $5 million, it go to students majoring in other liberal arts, he said.
House Study Bill 84 includes a provision that the famous painting must be on the UI campus for at least three months every four years as a condition of the sale, so students could still use it for educational purposes.
“We need to have the discussion. If we have an asset valued at $100 million to $150 million, it had been in storage in Chicago, now at a museum at Davenport, are we not better served to have those resources deployed to actually educate Iowa students in the arts?” Raecker said.
UI Spokesman Tom Moore, when asked about the bill Wednesday, said university officials “won’t be discussing the topic at all.” State Board of Regents President David Miles also had no comment.
UI Museum of Art Director Sean O’Harrow was out of the office and unavailable for comment.
To read the full CRG article, click HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment