Delaware Museum Sanctioned for Selling Painting to Pay Bills

The Delaware Art Museum was sanctioned Wednesday by two national museum organizations for auctioning off a painting for $4.25-million as part of a plan to buttress its shaky finances, The News Journal of Wilmington writes.

The Association of Art Museum Directors advised members to stop lending works to and partnering on shows with the Delaware museum, and a committee of the American Alliance of Museums voted to pull the Wilmington institution’s accreditation. An alliance spokesman said the procedural move aims to signal that the museum is “an outlier and an institution that does not conform to accepted standards of the field.”

The museum announced plans in March to sell four major pieces to pay down nearly $20-million in construction debt and bolster its endowment, saying it faced closure without a large cash infusion. In London on Tuesday, an anonymous buyer purchased an 1868 work by the English painter William Holman Hunt at a price that fell far short of the sales estimate by Christie’s auction house, The News Journal also reported.

National museum groups frown on such “deaccessioning” unless the proceeds are used to acquire new works. Mike Miller, chief executive of the Delaware museum, said the sanctions were disappointing but added, “We take comfort in knowing that the museum will remain open and continue to serve our community.”