The Porter County Superior Court has approved Valparaiso University's plan to sell three valuable paintings from the Brauer Museum of Art—works by Frederic Edwin Church, Childe Hassam, and Georgia O'Keeffe valued at around $20 million—to fund renovations to freshman dormitories. The decision follows a year and a half of controversy, including a lawsuit from the museum's founding director Richard Brauer and condemnation from major museum professional organizations, who argue that deaccessioning art for non-collection purposes violates ethical standards.
This ruling matters because it tests the boundaries of museum ethics and deaccessioning policy in the United States. The court accepted the university's argument that it cannot afford to display or insure the works, and that the donor's original intent for a "conservative" art collection was violated by acquiring Impressionist and Modernist pieces. The case could set a precedent for other cash-strapped institutions seeking to sell art for non-collection needs, challenging long-standing professional guidelines that prohibit using deaccession funds for anything other than acquisitions or direct care of collections.