Deaccessions 2008

In September, 2009, Tyler Green alerted us to a number of paintings that the Art Institute auctioned off at Christies, and I showed the pictures here .

More recently, they sold off some early moderns (Picasso, Matisse, Braque) to pay for the new Malevich, and I showed those works here

And today, I saw the above painting at the opening of "Re:Chicago" at the new DePaul University Art Museum which the A.I.C. auctioned off at Sotheby's in May, 2008.




What's especially noteworthy about this piece is that, as you can read above, it was given to the museum by Martin Ryerson who devoted his life to bringing exceptional art to the museum. (for example, this Jean Hey piece came from him - without which this spectacular exhibit of French art probably would not have come to Chicago earlier this year.)

Currently, there are four A.B.D. paintings left in the museum, two of which also came from Ryerson. (none are on display)













Other pieces include this Guy Carleton Wiggins a
New York impressionist.




And then were some Remington sculpture and paintings.










Milton Avery




I'm not sure all of these things should have been kept and periodically displayed.

And one good consequence of sending them to Sotheby's or Christie's is that the auction houses provide much larger images on the internet than the museum ever did.

But it's troubling that the A.I.C> is so tight-lipped about all these transactions.