If you happen to have $100 million burning a hole in your pocket, the University of Iowa may have just the deal for you.1
1 The first time I took mom to the University of Iowa Museum of Art, she saw the Pollock and said, “I know that one.” Seeing it in place, the thing is imposing. It is not uncommon to hear of pilgrimages to the museum just to gaze upon it. Unfortunately, the museum had five feet of water in its main floor last month. Even though the collection was safely moved, now the university is faced with the question of how to pay to rebuild. And as we saw with The Gross Clinic, the art market being what it (still) is, for the second time in two years, Iowa is flirting with putting Mural on the auction block.
Gee, I hope they don’t sell it. It’s what’s inside buildings that make them special, not the buildings themselves.
by JAW—Aug 8, 10:46 AM
I think it unlikely, because it’s not as if the university isn’t going to receive $1 zillion in insurance and flood-recovery grants and donations. It would probably take a hard coup by the board of regents to make it happen.
But it’s not impossible. Money talks a hard game…
by greg—Aug 8, 10:50 AM