Museum Ethics
Is this a grievous breach of trust with the University’s donors, the academic community, and the residents of Northwest Indiana?
In 1953, Paul Brandt, President of the Valparaiso University Association signed an irrevocable agreement in which he not only pledged to maintain and develop Percy Sloan’s collection of American paintings according to certain conditions, but also acknowledged Sloan’s personal philosophy and motivation to make of a gift of his collection.
“I am unwilling,” Sloan wrote in his Trust Agreement, “to give the Collection and its Endowment to any institution that accepts only the paintings and money but refuses further collaboration with me or my trustee in materializing my plans.”
A dutiful son, Percy Sloan sought to preserve his father’s artistic legacy. Junius Sloan (1827-1900) was both a portraitist and a Hudson River School landscape artist. As an art educator, his son believed in the power of paintings to open students’ eyes to the omnipresence of beauty in the world. He was confident that the study of aesthetics and an appreciation for art would “prove a limitless source of happiness.”
In addition to a few hundred pieces by his father, Percy Sloan donated works by other leading American painters. Among their number was Frederic Church’s Mountain Landscape (ca. 1849). Sloan also directed that the remainder of his estate be sold to create an endowment fund for the purchase of additional paintings of merit by American artists, of American scenes. In fulfillment of these criteria, both Childe Hassam’s The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate (1914) and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Rust Red Hills (1930) were subsequently acquired. The proceeds of the sale of any painting donated by Sloan – he only authorized the sale of “lesser works by [his] father” – were to be deposited into the endowment fund.
Sloan’s gift was intended to benefit not only university students but also local residents. “I wish the Collection operated…[in] the fullest possible service to the students and community.” These three paintings have been held in the public trust for generations of Northwest Indiana residents. Admission to the collection has always been free. The University is breaking trust with its neighbors.
For these reasons, the American Alliance of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Curators, the Association of Art Museum Directors, and the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries have collectively denounced the proposed sale as unethical.
Sign the Petition
Over 2,500 signatures and counting…
We, the undersigned – artists, collectors, donors, art historians, museum professionals, teachers, university faculty, and lovers of art – write in protest at your intention to sell paintings from the collection of the Brauer Museum of Art to fund the renovation of dormitories.
By pressing submit you are signing the petition and sending a copy of your signed petition to President Padilla (president@valpo.edu) and the University Board of Directors.