JASPER CROPSEY

Pictures From an Institution
     Winter remains and I am still inside doing some reading and very little posting. I will attempt here to parlay a current event into a post.
   
     Of late, Chagall has been much in the Canadian news and that got me thinking about Cropsey. Unfortunately that is the way I think. The connection, except for the fact that the two gentlemen are artists, is not apparent, but in this quick (I hope) exercise, I will try to make one.

     I am not sure how scholars of art would characterize Chagall, but I will just call him ‘Modern”, whereas Cropsey is known as a member of the Hudson River School. Rivers and woods and romanticized landscapes are often the subjects of those in this School and, being unsophisticated about such matters, I like them much more than the abstract offerings  and the modern art found in most galleries. The works of the Chagall and Cropsey are quite different, but the admirers of each are willing to pay large sums to obtain one of their paintings. The connection I made between the two relates to the problems that can arise when one attempts to sell one of their paintings.

The Chagall Conundrum

     Since you probably know about this current episode and since this post is mainly about an older one involving Cropsey, I will provide the basics here and some sources below.
     The National Gallery came up with the idea of selling a Chagall in order to raise enough funds to purchase a David. The Chagall painting,  La Tour Eiffel, is pictured below here:


     The painting by Jacques-Louis David is owned by the Notre‑Dame‑de‑Québec Parish Corporation, a Catholic group, and they needed to sell the painting to upgrade the plumbing in some of their churches. Both paintings are worth millions. The David is here and, ironically enough, it appears to depict the dismay and alarm experienced by those involved:

Saint Jerome, also known as Saint Jerome Hears the Trumpet of the Last Judgment, by French artist Jacques‑Louis David, can currently be seen in Montreal's Museum of Fine Arts. (Elysha Enos/CBC)

      Apart from aesthetics - politics, religion, identity politics, and federal/provincial affairs are involved, hence the conundrum. (Since the Supreme Court has just ruled that beer could not be carried between provinces, one expected that the transfer of valuable art work might be problematic). The Quebec Culture Minister has declared Saint Jerome a ‘heritage’ work and it will not be leaving the province, so the problem has been solved.

The Cropsey Controversy

     I have vague (very vague) memories of this incident which occurred almost forty years ago at the University of Western Ontario. It is, by the way, a fine university, but like the other Canadian ones back in those days, it relied upon government funding of which there was never enough. Simply put, when the University had the opportunity to sell Cropsey’s Backwoods of America, it took it. Those who valued the painting as a work of art, lost to those who thought it was more valuable as a commodity. More details are provided in this account by Poole:

“While there was always a certain tension between the McIntosh Gallery administration and the department of visual arts, this developed, in the winter of 1980, into open warfare over the proposed sale of a painting, Backwoods of America by Jasper Cropsey, a nineteenth century American artist. W. H. Abbott, the art collector who had been a representative of the Western Art League to the Western Fair Association for many years early in the century, had given the Cropsey painting to the university in 1931. The fuss began when it was suggested that since the university was not building a collection of nineteenth century American paintings, perhaps the work should be sold. About this time, however, a professor in the visual arts department was writing an important paper on the Cropsey painting in question. He and his colleagues were adamant in their opposition to any thought of selling the work. Their position was that until the paper was published, it was vital that the work remain on campus. The university administration was faced with a rapidly escalating art market and was advised by the auction house of Sotheby Parke Bernet in New York that the painting was a valuable work, and that now was the time to sell it. Opposition to the sale was so strong throughout the university community, however, that the administration delayed any action. The following year, when the art market moved even higher, the Board of Governors decided that Backwoods of America must be sold. In the spring of 1981, the painting went up for auction in New York*, and, as a result, the university received $665,000 - probably the largest amount of money ever paid for a work of art from a London collection. While the faculty of visual arts still believed the sale to be ill-advised, the McIntosh Gallery now received the annual interest from the capital realized by the sale, and because those funds came ultimately from a gift to the university, the government agencies for the arts were willing to give the McIntosh matching grants each year. The sale thus guaranteed comfortable budgets for all future acquisition committees.”
The Art of London, 1830-1980, Nancy Geddes Poole, 1984. Pp.178-179.

     The professor to whom she refers is the author of a thorough analysis of the painting which is found in this article where more details about Cropsey in relation to the campus are also provided.
“Here Today and Gone Tomorrow: Jasper F. Cropsey's 'The Backwoods of America',”Bernard  Bonario, RACAR: revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review, Vol. 9, No. 1/2 (1982), pp. 9-20
“The University of Western Ontario acquired The Backwoods of America in January, 1933. It was the gift of a local philanthropist, W.H. Abbott, among whose interests was the organization of art exhibits at the city’s annual Western Fair.” [p.9]
“Almost ironically, The Backwoods of America is the most significant painting to have passed through Abbott's modest art collection, remaining on public display for several decades and hanging in the University's Lawson Library until about 1970, when it was transferred to its location in the collections of the University's newly reorganized Mcintosh Art Gallery. [p.10]
4. University of Western Ontario, McIntosh Art Gallery, inv. 221
“I studied the painting in storage under unfavourable conditions. Since the completion of my manuscript in March 1979, the University has deaccessioned The Backwoods of America. Sold Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, sale 4583M (23 April 1981), lot 18. [footnote 4, p.10]
   
     This episode proves, if nothing else, that Sayre’s Law does not alway apply since the stakes were pretty high. ("Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low.")

Backwoods of America

Provenance:
(W. B. Huggins & Co., Glasgow, Scotland), by 1859; purchased by Private Collection, Glasgow, Scotland, March 10, 1859; (Williams & Sutch, London, England), 1932; to (Leslie W. Lewis, London, England), 1932; purchased by William H. Abbot, London, Ontario, Canada, 1932; given to University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, January 1933; to (Sotheby's, New York, NY), April 23, 1981, lot 18; purchased by Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation, Taylor, MI, 1981; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2006

 Label Text:When Cropsey painted The Backwoods of America, land across the country was being developed at an unprecedented pace. This idealized pioneer landscape depicts a remote homestead nestled along the shore of a wilderness lake. As the sun breaks over the mountains, a pioneer family begins its day. A woman stands in the doorway of a log cabin, her young children playing nearby, while her husband heads into the woods, shouldering a long-handled broadax and accompanied by a dog. A garden that includes the distinctly American pumpkin grows in roughly cleared patches along the forest's edge. As if forecasting the imminent end of frontier life, the artist signed his name on a rock resembling a tipped-over gravestone that soon will be covered by the cultivated pumpkin vines.

Sources:

      For the current Chagall issue see:
“Quebec Will Grant French Painting Heritage Status, Bringing Saga to an End:
Sale of 'Saint Jerome Hears the Trumpet of the Last Judgment,' Painting From 1779, led to Tensions,” CBC News · Posted: Apr 24, 2018.
“National Gallery’s Sale of Marc Chagall Work Linked to Tug of War Over Jacques-Louis David Painting,” Robert Everett- Green, Globe and Mail, April 12, 2018.

     For the Cropsey issue at Western, there is little additional information that is easily available. I am sure the student newspaper and some UWO publications would have covered the controversy. Unfortunately the back issues are only available via film or fiche if you wish to fiddle with them.

Post Script:

The usual bonus information for premium subscribers.

Pictures From an Institution
    The irrelevant title of this post refers to a campus novel by Randall Jarrell, should you want to read more about academic life.

The Case at Fisk University
    A couple of years ago this institution had a similar issue:
“When Fisk University, the historically black school in Nashville, tried to sell two paintings several years ago from its storied Alfred Stieglitz art collection, a firestorm erupted. The proposed sale violated conditions of the gift of the collection from Stieglitz’s widow, Georgia O’Keeffe, according to her foundation….
But what was not revealed at the time, and has only recently come to light, is that before the agreement was completed — and with the debate over the future of Fisk itself swirling around her — Hazel O’Leary, then the university’s president, on behalf of the school quietly sold off two other paintings owned by Fisk….
Fisk’s under-the-radar sale of the Stettheimer highlights the minefield institutions must navigate when they use proceeds from art, whether to pay expenses or, in recent years, to try to finance costly expansions. At the same time, the sale reveals what can happen when an artist — even one as critically revered as Stettheimer — fails to secure her legacy.”
“A Prized Stettheimer Painting, Sold Under the Radar by a University,” Susan Mulcahy [no relation], New York Times, July 26, 2016.

Those of you who shop at Wal-Mart will be glad to know your money is well-spent since the painting from Fisk, and the Cropsey from Western both were bought by Alice Walton and can be found at Crystal Bridges. You may recall that I visited this wonderful museum in Arkansas and wrote about it in the post Amazing Accomplishments. 

Association of Academic Museums and Galleries
     This association set-up a task force to deal with the issue and you can learn more about it here where I provide the opening paragraphs:
Task Force for the Protection of University Collections
“National economic crises create tensions at all levels of society. In the United States, cultural institutions of all sizes have been particularly vulnerable in times of economic recession, particularly those institutions that are part of larger umbrella organizations such as cities, colleges, or universities.

“University collections, particularly art collections, are increasingly being viewed as disposable and coveted assets by parent organizations desperate to shore up faltering endowment funds or to fill budget gaps caused by reduced funding from states. Even those university museums that have worked hard to ensure that their parent college or university views them as an essential part of the academic enterprise may face threats when severe economic crises hit.”

No Deaccession at Dubuque
     When recently offered $6 million for a Grant Wood, the Dubuque Public Library rejected the offer. See: “Dubuque Library Refuses $6M Offer to Buy Grant Wood Painting”

Colby College Doesn’t Have to Worry About This Issue
    “ Benefactors Give Colby College Art Museum a Gift Worth $100 Million – Again
The Donation by Peter and Paula Lunder Will Launch the Lunder Institute for American Art and Elevate the College as a Global Research Center on American Art,” Amy Calder, Morning Sentinel, Feb. 2, 2017 (Portland Press Herald).
WATERVILLE — The Colby College Museum of Art has received a gift of more than $100 million from longtime supporters Peter and Paula Lunder that college officials say will help cement the region’s reputation as a world-class arts destination.
The donation, the Lunders’ second gift of more than $100 million, includes about 1,500 works of art and will launch the Lunder Institute for American Art, whose focus will be the practice, study and exhibition of American art. As part of the institute, scholars, artists and curators will work with students from all disciplines.
Colby officials say the gift, which was announced Thursday night at a meeting of Colby trustees in Boston, helps establish Colby as the only liberal arts college with a top museum and a global research center dedicated to American art.

Picture Problems at York University
     Sometimes (especially these days) a university can get in trouble for displaying rather than deaccessing a piece of art. This happened at York when Mr. Bronfman, a major benefactor, objected to the painting below.
“York University's ‘Inclusion’ Committee Stacked With Anti-Israel Faculty, Jewish group Charges: The University Promised a ‘Committee on Inclusion’ in the Wake of Prominent Donor Paul Bronfman’s Objections to a pro-Palestinian Painting on Campus,” National Post, Tristin Hopper, April 6, 2016.