Visitors To Learn About Eakins In Disgusting Museum

Late last year, everybody was all up in arms about the sale of The Gross Clinic, one of the greatest American paintings, previously owned by Jefferson University. The hospital sold the painting for $68 million to the National Gallery of Art and the as-yet-unbuilt Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, founded by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton.

Now the Jefferson board is selling another Eakins painting, this one an 1874 portrait of Jefferson professor Dr. Benjamin H. Rand. Crystal Bridges is buying the painting, although this Eakins painting isn’t famous or anything — even though most of Philly probably hadn’t seen The Gross Clinic anyway — so Jefferson was open about the sale with its alumni and staff. Some people are still upset, but it’s not likely to cause a massive fundraising campaign since even fewer people have heard of this painting.

And, yesterday, Brian Harrison, chairman of the board of trustees sent this email to the Jefferson community. (They’re apparently called “Jeffersonians.”)

We are very pleased that many people will be able to see this painting in a pubic art museum and will have the opportunity to learn more about the legacy of Thomas Eakins and his connection to Thomas Jefferson University. Crystal Bridges, scheduled to open in 2009, also announced today that it will lend the Rand Portrait to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for public viewing later this spring.

Ew. Who knew this museum was going to be so weird. I don’t know what a pubic art museum is, but I don’t want to know. Full email after the jump.

More »

The Gross Fallout

Despite the fact that more people voted in Jefferson Alumni Hall this year than went into the same building to see The Gross Clinic, civic and cultural leaders are rallying to keep the painting in the city.

Philadelphians have 39 days now to match the $68 million put up for the painting by the Crystal Bridges Museum (backed by Wal-Mart heirs) and the National Gallery of Art. There’s been mention of a partnership between PAFA and the Art Museum. Meanwhile, Jefferson has faced so much criticism that it asked senior faculty and staff to come up with other ways to spend the money other than fund the expansion of the hospital.

Look, since it sold the painting to Wal-Mart heirs, here’s a suggestion to Jefferson: Just roll-back the price of The Gross Clinic to $50 million-ish, so then maybe a Philadelphia cultural institution could buy it.

Jefferson seeks input on painting’s proceeds [Inquirer]

Painting’s Sale Like The Great Flood, Only Worse

It was announced Saturday that Jefferson Hospital would sell Thomas Eakins’ famed painting The Gross Clinic for $68 million, in order to help fund the hospital’s expansion. (More awesome-looking parking garages, please!)

The painting’s sale — to the National Gallery in D.C. and to Alice “Wal-Mart” Walton’s unbuilt Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas — has upset many of those connected with Jefferson Hospital, the Inquirer reports today. The hospital has rejected offers for the painting, which currently sits in Alumni Hall.

The loss of the painting is, of course, saddening. It’s a fantastic piece of art and to not have Philly’s Thomas Eakins’ masterwork — one the art establishment derided when it was originally painted — in Philadelphia is a little strange. But I don’t think it quite reaches the level of Hiroshima or Nagasaki:

The news, said David Paskin, senior associate dean at the university, hit Jefferson “like a nuclear blast.”

Yesterday, students, faculty members and alumni were still reeling from the shock, which caught everyone off guard, angering not a few by its seeming stealth.

Oh, I’m sorry. It’s worse than Hiroshima and Nagasaki because we warned them we’d bomb first. But, hey, we have until Dec. 26 for a counterattack! Huzzah!

A divisive deal [Inky]