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Gross Clinic: Philly UpdateThe Philadelphia Museum of Art Tries to Keep a MasterpieceAn update on the progress of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in their attempt to raise $68 million save Thomas Eakins' Gross Clinic painting.
A quick phonecall to the "Gross Clinic Hotline" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania confirms that the museum has raised over one third of the $68 million necessary to purchase the American painting masterpiece by Thomas Eakins, entitled The Gross Clinic. The phone volunteer also indicated that the funds were closer to reaching the two-thirds amount necessary to keep the painting from being purchased by Alice Walton of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The deadline for fundraising is December 26, 2006. You can make a tax-deductible donation by calling 215-684-7762. The Gross Clinic painting is currently owned by Thomas Jefferson University. It is interesting to note that there is no news story on their website about the impending sale of the painting which has caused considerable controversy, especially amongst alumnae who do not approve of the sale of such a major asset to the school. But the reality is that Thomas Jefferson University is not a museum and only about 300 lucky visitors a year stumble across the famous Gross Clinic painting housed on the Philadelphia campus. It is also interesting to note that the PMA was not interested in acquiring this painting until it's sale was imminent. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has an entire gallery room devoted to Thomas Eakins. It would seem an assertive curator would have been trying to aquire this masterpiece to be the crown jewel of their Eakins collection. Is it wrong for this painting to leave it's contextual home? Is it wrong for this painting to be purchased by a new, wealthy museum in Arkansas? What is the best place for this one special piece of oil on canvas? It is the right and privilege of most art museums to deaccession works of art (if it is allowed in the permissions that exist in most donations and/or acquisitions) and if it is deemed prudent to do so to raise funds to purchase more appropriate pieces that better compliment the overall art collection. It would seem that Thomas Jefferson University is allowed to sell off the Gross Clinic to better provide for it's faculty, students, and constituents. And it also seems as if they have cooperated by at least allowing the PMA to raise the funds to keep the painting in Philadelphia. Now let's see if they can get the job done. You can read the lates on the Gross Clinic painting here.
The copyright of the article Gross Clinic: Philly Update in Art & Society is owned by Mary Rayme. Permission to republish Gross Clinic: Philly Update in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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