May 23, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Smithsonian American Art Museum lost out on a major gift when Peter Lunder and his wife, Paula, donated 500 objects worth more than $100-million to Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, writes Lee Rosenbaum, a cultural journalist, on the blog CultureGrrl.
The Lunders had previously given the Smithsonian money to endow the American Art Museum’s new conservation facility. But Colby should only really celebrate its good fortune if the Lunders’ gift has also come with the finances to pay for it, says Ms. Rosenbaum.
“Let’s hope he’s also endowed Colby’s museum, so we don’t later have another Fisk or Randolph Macon situation,” writes Ms. Rosenbaum.
Fisk University, in Nashville Tenn., is in the midst of trying to sell two artworks it received as gifts, including a Georgia O’Keeffe painting, in order to “stabilize its long-term financial situation,” Ms. Rosenbaum wrote.
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And this month, Ms. Rosenbaum wrote on her blog that a consultant for Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, in Lynchburg, Va., recommended the college sell its artworks in order to beef up its endowment, which the institution has been drawing on heavily to pay its bills.
The college’s museum holds works by Edward Hopper and Mary Cassatt, among others.
In her post, Ms. Rosenbaum quoted a column from the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the situation.
“It’s painful to consider we might have to raise the funds with the art collection,” says Brenda Edson, a spokeswoman for the college, in the newspaper. “But we are doing our best to put the school on a sound financial footing.”
Ms. Rosenbaum adds: “But at what price?”
