Crystal Bridges: Wal-Mart Museum
The heir of Sam Walton feathers her nest in Bentonville, Arkansas
Oct 8, 2006
When I first heard about the daughter of Sam Walton building a world-class art museum in Arkansas, I was miffed in an upper-middle-class kind of way. Who are these nouveau riche to bring art masterpieces to the heathen of No-whereville, USA?
For several years, Alice Walton and the Walton Family Foundation have been buying some of the greatest hits of art history in an attempt to stack the deck of their museum's collection. One of the more controversial art purchases was Kindred Spirits which was sold at auction by the New York Public Library. At $35 million (US), it was a record price paid for a painting by an American artist. Critics argued that this masterpiece of the Hudson River School by Asher Durand should stay in New York.
Allegedly, Ms. Walton is buying up art in an educated and calculating manner, and is not on an overly-rich person's impulsive shopping spree. The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art recently broke ground in Bentonville, Arkansas (population 20,000), the town where Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store.
Recently, another regional art treasure was sold to Alice Walton and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Thomas Jefferson University sold its famous Gross Clinic painting for $68 million (US). The unusual part of this deal is twofold. First, to my knowledge, this is the first time museums have joined monetary forces to share ownership in a work of art. It also adds some museum street credibility to the yet-to-be-completed Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The other unusual part of this deal is that the University has offered the same deal to local art museums, if they can pony up the cash. It is truly a direct monetary challenge to blue-blood, Main Line Philadelphians. I wonder if they can rally to the cry?
Ms. Walton's motivations for this museum are plentiful. First and foremost, she is purchasing one of the most valued commodities that can be found in the middle of nowhere...culture. Bentonville will undoubtedly have a significant boost in tourism and perhaps will encourage other cultural entities in the region to prosper and grow. The museum will also be a great resource for teachers and kids from surrounding communities who perhaps have never traveled to an art museum. Now, the museum comes to them. Culturally, this flattens the hierarchy of the museum world, and one assumes this is a positive trend.
More on Crystal Bridges here.
