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donybrx
Nov 18, 2006, 3:09 PM
Posted on Sat, Nov. 18, 2006

Work in progress: Will the art stay?

By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer

A coalition of cultural institutions, foundations, city officials and individuals - led by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts - has been formed in an effort to keep Thomas Eakins' masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, in the city.

Organizers have also established a fund for donations and a hotline for those seeking information on the effort.

The painting, created in 1875 and depicting renowned surgeon Samuel Gross performing a difficult and bloody operation, was sold by Thomas Jefferson University on Nov. 10 for $68 million to a partnership consisting of an unbuilt Arkansas museum, backed by Wal-Mart heirs, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Jefferson, which has owned the painting since it was donated by alumni in 1878, has given local institutions until Dec. 26 to match the sale price.

"If they match it, it's theirs," Robert L. Barchi, Jefferson's president, said at the time of the sale.

"I think we're rolling here," Anne d'Harnoncourt, director and chief executive officer of the Art Museum, said yesterday. "There have been some wonderful offers of support, large and small."

Donald Caldwell, chairman of the Pennsylvania Academy, said the coalition was "still fleshing out how the expression or desire to help will translate into terms of dollars."

Mayor Street said he was encouraged by the local effort, adding that "retaining The Gross Clinic will underscore" the importance of the arts in the fabric of city life "and ensure a place in the heart of our city for this treasured painting."

Both Caldwell and d'Harnoncourt said it was too soon to say how much money might be in the pipeline.

"I don't think we can be more specific, because we don't have permission," said Caldwell, regarding other organizations and individuals involved in the effort.

The decision by Jefferson to sell the painting came as a surprise to students, faculty and alumni, as well as to the city at large, and has sparked considerable controversy.

Jefferson officials argue that the 10-year strategic plan they hope to partially fund through the sale of the painting will transform the Center City campus and surrounding neighborhood.

Critics contend that the painting, on display at Alumni Hall, on the 1000 block of Locust Street, depicts a founding father of the university and is indelibly bound to the identity of the entire community.

"This painting ties all of medicine together," Gerald Herbison, a Jefferson professor, said when he learned of the sale. "Eakins, as a Philadelphia painter, ties Philadelphia medicine to the city. It is medicine at its best, in a community known for medicine at its best, in a medical institution with roots going back to 1800."

Eakins, who lived virtually his entire life in Philadelphia, was a student at the academy and then taught there before being asked to resign by prudish administrators upset by his use of a nude male model in classes with female students.

Eakins also studied anatomy at Jefferson with Gross and viewed the surgeon as a heroic figure, said Kathleen Foster, curator of American art at the Art Museum.

Eakins is "totally connected to Philadelphia," said Larry Francis, a painter who teaches at the academy.

D'Harnoncourt said the challenge of raising such a large amount of money in such a short period was daunting, but "it's not impossible."

"By working together, our city may be able to preserve Eakins' greatest work in Philadelphia," she said.

"It is imperative that The Gross Clinic remains here, and we are working together to find a way to make that happen," Caldwell said. "This has got to be a community effort."

How to Give

Tax-deductible donations to the Fund for Eakins' Masterpiece can be made online at www. philamuseum.orgkeepeakins; checks payable to the Fund for Eakins' Masterpiece may be sent to Fund for Eakins' Masterpiece, c/o the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Box 7646, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101-7646. There is also a Fund for Eakins' Masterpiece hotline for information at 215-684-7762.

PhillyRising
Nov 18, 2006, 3:19 PM
I can't see why raising the money by December is such a big issue. There is so much money in the Philadelphia area...most of the people who have it don't know what to do with it.

I'm sure the Roberts family (Comcast) will be among the big donors. They really support Philadelphia.

donybrx
Nov 18, 2006, 3:29 PM
^^^^ Yes, yes.....I'm tempted to send a few bucks (I'm not a Roberts, alas) Give Philly a Christmas present...I've gotten a lot form Philly in various ways.....those little donations can add up to big sums, like most financial efforts......Maybe the Annenbergs will pitch in to atone for sendin their collection out of Philly.....make nicey-nice. :)

bucks native
Nov 18, 2006, 6:05 PM
Actually, the Annenbergs (he's gone but she's still kickin') need not atone for deliberately slighting Philadelphia's Museum of Art. It's the old-money snobs who ran the museum and slighted the Annenbergs, who need to make amends.

Just as THEY did with the Kellys (Grace's family), THEY never accepted the Annenbergs into THEIR CIRCLE. Even so, the Annenbergs have been very generous towards Philadelphia, otherwise.

Most of these old-money families are notoriously tight with their bucks. But fortunately for Philadelphia, there is a lot of NEW money (think Kimmel/Dorrance Hamilton/Pereleman) in town and these folks are far more generous.

I do think this appeal will work.

bucks native
Nov 18, 2006, 6:47 PM
FYI - I just contacted the museum to ask how it will handle donations made if we do not reach the $68mil level required to keep the painting where it belongs. I was informed that donors can choose to have their donation returned to them or to have it kept in a fund to purchase works that might at some point be threatened with leaving town.

And I was informed, when I asked, that already there has been a lot of "$$interest$$ expressed" in keeping it in town, "but it's a large amount that must be raised, so every donation, large or small, will count."

Here's an idea: Send a message to Alice - Walmart claims it supports local organizations in communities where it places its big boxes. Call your nearby Walmart and ask whether it is contibuting to THIS local cause.

donybrx
Nov 18, 2006, 7:13 PM
Actually, the Annenbergs (he's gone but she's still kickin') need not atone for deliberately slighting Philadelphia's Museum of Art. It's the old-money snobs who ran the museum and slighted the Annenbergs, who need to make amends.

Just as THEY did with the Kellys (Grace's family), THEY never accepted the Annenbergs into THEIR CIRCLE. Even so, the Annenbergs have been very generous towards Philadelphia, otherwise. [/QUOTE]


Never mind that. :) If they are truly gracious, they'll step up to the plate, I say; rest assured I'm very well aware of the Annenberg's ongoing value to Philadelphia......

I also have to assume that Ms. Walton had worked this out with the National Gallery rather than the Philadelphia Museum or the PAFA because of the quid pro quo available to Walmart via Washington heavies.

So, so much for Alice's motives in pursuing art; her 'integrity' & largesse lies substantially in business/political expediency rather than in historic appropriacy.....as such, I'll happily join in sending her a nota bene.....

bucks native
Nov 20, 2006, 12:32 PM
Street: Designate painting 'historic.' Under Philadelphia's historic preservation code, removal of Eakins' work could be halted. There is precedent for its use.

By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer
November 20, 2006

Mayor Street has nominated Thomas Eakins' masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, for protection under the city's historic preservation ordinance, noting the painting's deep historical and cultural resonance throughout Philadelphia, city officials said yesterday.

Designation as a "historic object," a rarely used category of the preservation code, would prevent the painting from being altered or moved without the express approval of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Its proposed sale by Thomas Jefferson University for $68 million ignited a burgeoning controversy.

The first such designation blocked the removal of Dream Garden, a shimmering mosaic in the old Curtis Publishing building, which its owners sought to sell in 1998.

Stephanie Naidoff, city commerce director, said Street sent a letter to commission members on Friday requesting the designation for The Gross Clinic because he believes the painting is "a real treasure of Philadelphia."

"It's an icon of world art, but it is especially connected to Philadelphia, which has always been preeminent in medicine, and Dr. Gross was preeminent in his day," said Naidoff, referring to the surgeon at the center of the monumental canvas. "That's why the mayor requested this."

How the historical designation might affect sale of the work or the ticking down of the clock toward Dec. 26 could not be determined.

Jefferson officials were unavailable for comment yesterday. Officials at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., and the National Gallery of Art in Washington also were unavailable.

On Friday, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts announced formation of a coalition of foundations, institutions and individuals seeking to keep the painting in the city. A fund for donations has been established.

Use of the preservation ordinance to protect artworks is unusual, but there are significant precedents.

In the case of Dream Garden, a collaboration of Maxfield Parrish and Louis C. Tiffany whose sale ignited considerable public controversy, the Historical Commission acted after receiving a nomination request from then-Mayor Ed Rendell.

Owners of the mural fought the designation, and a three-year legal battle ensued. That fight finally ended, without any court decision, when the Pew Charitable Trusts acquired the mosaic for $3.5 million and gave it over to the care of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The preservation ordinance, sponsored by Street while he was on City Council, stipulates that an object may be deemed historical if, among other things, it "has historic character, interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the city, commonwealth or nation, or is associated with the life of a person significant in the past."

"Does [The Gross Clinic] meet the definition of historic object?" wondered Penny Balkin Bach, director of the Fairmount Park Art Association.

"We believe it does. The setting we interpret to be the city, not that room," Bach said, referring to the gallery housing the painting.

The fact that The Gross Clinic was not created specifically for Jefferson - it was given to the university by alumni who admired Gross and believed Eakins had captured the essence of heroic and humane medicine in his portrayal - makes no difference under the ordinance, Bach said.

The nomination, which commission members said they had received late Friday, would first be reviewed by the Historical Commission's designation committee. Should that panel recommend approval, it would then go to the full commission for review and a final decision. That process alone could take several months.

Since Jefferson officials surprised the city with news of the sale, students, faculty and alumni, as well as individuals across the city, have protested the decision.

Eakins lived virtually his entire life here, and The Gross Clinic, painted in 1875, when the artist was only 31, is widely seen as emblematic of the city.

"I actually often go by and sit down and look at it," said Justin Belin, a medical student at Jefferson. The painting is housed in a special gallery in Alumni Hall on Locust Street, between 10th and 11th Streets.

"It's an inspiration to me as someone who thinks there is no separation between medicine and art," Belin said. "Medicine is introspection and healing. It's a muse for me and the heart of the campus."

DeadManWalking
Nov 20, 2006, 3:23 PM
For $68 million dollars, the residents of Philly could get a lot of excellent artwork, not just one old painting.

Taller Better
Nov 20, 2006, 4:37 PM
It is not just one old painting, it is an important work. Well worth saving for Philly. Bravo!

bucks native
Nov 22, 2006, 10:46 AM
An artist, a painting, and a city's identity. Eakins' "The Gross Clinic" has inspired loyalty, devotion - and an effort to keep it here.

By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer

How does a painting speak to and about a city?

If the painting is Thomas Eakins' The Gross Clinic, now facing removal from Philadelphia after a surprise sale announcement Nov. 10, the dialogue includes the very essence of identity, race, intellect and creativity.

It is not simply that the painting has been owned by Thomas Jefferson University since 1878, three years after it was painted here.

It is not simply that Eakins studied anatomy at Jefferson and art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Or that he lived in Philadelphia virtually his entire life, on Mount Vernon Street, or that his brushes, paints, and other personal effects - not to mention paintings - are held by the academy and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

It isn't even that he championed the efforts of women and African Americans, or sought to bring scientific method into American art.

The Gross Clinic, considered Eakins' greatest effort, touches on all of this. But the artist and the painting, which Mayor Street has nominated for protective designation as a historic object, are so totally fused with so many aspects of intellectual life in Philadelphia that it is sometimes impossible to determine where Eakins and his legacy leave off and a separate, independent city begins.

It is this complete identification that is fueling the intense local effort to raise $68 million and match the sale price offered Jefferson by an Arkansas museum and the National Gallery of Art.

Eakins' famous paintings of rowers on the Schuylkill, for instance, are so embedded in consciousness that his art has redefined the way the river is viewed.

"Going down the Schuylkill, you're looking at it in his way - that sense is pervasive," said painter Patrick Connors, who teaches anatomy at the Pennsylvania Academy, using anatomical casts made by Eakins.

"There is no other American city with a figure like Eakins in it," said painter Randall Exon, who teaches art at Swarthmore College. "No other artist is so integrated into the larger community - the doctors, the academics, the scholars. He was a fascinating conduit between them all."

Eakins in some ways still dominates the academy, where he was ousted from the faculty in 1886 for using nude male models in a class with female students.

That legendary firing, while often cited as yet another instance of the city's prudish culture, seen another way was a reaction to Eakins' efforts to treat women equally as students.

"He really felt women should have an equal opportunity to be professionals," said Kathleen Foster, an Eakins scholar and curator of American art at the Art Museum. "He believed if you want to be a serious artist, you have to know this stuff. It was absolutely revolutionary."

Black art students were scarce in the 19th century, but Eakins fostered them, and championed Henry Tanner, the great African American painter, who studied with him at the academy in the 1880s. In later years, Tanner cited Eakins as a profound influence on his art and life.

That relationship opened the way for later generations of black art students in Philadelphia.

"At first I moved toward Eakins because I saw he championed Tanner as a student and later as an artist," said Moe Brooker, professor of painting at Moore College of Art. "But it is [Eakins'] investigations, his need to know that ultimately speak to me."

Brooker entered the academy in 1959 with a number of other African American high school students in the city after City Council established scholarships and the academy provided access, Brooker said.

"For the first time, en masse, you have a group of African Americans students getting legitimate training in their craft."

Larry Francis, who teaches at the academy, studied at the academy in the 1970s with Francis Speight and Lou Sloan, an African American painter whom Brooker called a supportive presence. Francis, who is white, also felt the supportive presence of Sloan, and sees in it an unbroken line of teaching reaching all the way back to Eakins.

Sloan and Speight studied with Daniel Garber. Garber studied with Thomas Anshutz. And Anshutz studied with Thomas Eakins.

"Thomas Eakins is haunting the place," Francis said.

In fact, Eakins' teaching methods, focusing on physical observation, anatomical study, drawing and even dissection, still guide students at the school. Thanks to a partnership with Hahnemann University Hospital, academy students are able to view dissections and autopsies to this day.

It is no accident, then, that Eakins portrayed himself observing the dramatic and bloody operation under way in The Gross Clinic. He can be seen sketching over Dr. Gross' right shoulder.

Other figures in The Gross Clinic have descendants still in the area. Katherine Simmons of Edgemont, now in her 90s, said her uncle George Cross was one of the students whom Eakins portrayed intently watching Gross lecture, direct his team, and operate all at once.

Nancy Hearn Evans of Lancaster said her great-grandfather William Joseph Hearn was the anesthetist in the painting.

Jane Gross Rothbart, 87, of Montgomery County, said the famous surgeon was her great-grandfather.

All of them feel a loyalty to the painting that has remained in place, like their own families, for more than a century.

"This painting is solely adjoined to Philadelphia, Jefferson, and its generations of medical doctors," Evans wrote in an e-mail. "Outside of this direct context, it is reduced to a lifeless trophy."

Jefferson alumni, powerfully taken with the portrayal of Gross, bought the painting from Eakins for $200 and gave it to the university.

To this day, some Jefferson faculty members take students to look at the painting, in a special gallery in Jefferson's Alumni Hall on Locust Street, to help them visualize the surgical procedure and better grasp the human interrelationships involved in medical practice.

The amphitheater, known as "the pit," where Gross is depicted operating, was in the now-demolished Ely Building at 10th and Sansom Streets. Similar pits were in use for teaching purposes almost to the present day. Doctors would bring patients and their families for "conferences" with students.

"The prime conference of each week was the pit conference," said Gerald Herbison, a Jefferson professor, recalling his student days in the 1960s. "No one would miss it. There were questions asked. The family was there. It was part and parcel of the conference. It was everything you see in The Gross Clinic. It was thrilling. To imagine that painting leaving is mind-boggling. It would be a tragedy."
How to Give

Tax-deductible donations to the Fund for Eakins' Masterpiece can be made online at www. philamuseum.org/keepeakins; checks payable to the Fund for Eakins' Masterpiece may be sent to Fund for Eakins' Masterpiece, in care of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Box 7646, Philadelphia 19101-7646.
There is also a Fund for Eakins' Masterpiece hotline for information at 215-684-7762.

bucks native
Nov 30, 2006, 1:54 PM
'The Gross Clinic' campaign reaches one-third of goal

By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer
November 30, 2006

The campaign to raise $68 million and retain Thomas Eakins' monumental painting The Gross Clinic in Philadelphia has reached about one-third of its goal, officials said yesterday, with the number of donations now running into the hundreds.

With just under four weeks left to raise the remainder, Anne d'Harnoncourt, director and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, declined to put an exact figure on the level of contributions.

The formal campaign was launched about 10 days ago.

"We're about one-third of the way there and counting," d'Harnoncourt said yesterday. "And what's just fantastic is that we're really talking about hundreds of gifts, small and large, from $10 to millions. It's really the community-wide effort we'd hoped it would be."

The Art Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts are spearheading a fund-raising coalition born amidst a controversial decision to sell The Gross Clinic.

The effort has now gathered strong support in Washington and Harrisburg.

Sen. Arlen Specter and Gov. Rendell, Republican and Democrat respectively, have actively joined the fund-raising push, officials said yesterday, contacting possible donors, working the phones, and helping broaden the efforts to raise what is believed to be the largest amount ever paid for a pre-World War II American painting.

"The cultural heritage of the city is certainly at issue," said Specter, explaining his involvement. "But there is much more. It's the prestige of the city and the prestige of the commonwealth... . It has a lot of ramifications and demands the attention of the governor and senator."

"We know some people, and we also get our calls returned," Specter added.

D'Harnoncourt declined to name any of the large donors to the fund, but promised to do so later. Officials said moderate donations are coming in from all over the country.

A woman in Wyoming sent in $25 because her daughter, who lives in Philadelphia, said she wanted a "donation to this fund" as a Christmas present.

A woman from Philadelphia sent in $100 and noted that she had taken her whole family to see The Gross Clinic, which is housed in Alumni Hall in the 1000 block of Locust Street, over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Kim Sajet, senior vice president of museum and public programs at the Pennsylvania Academy, said many donations were flowing in from New York City, Seattle and other West Coast cities, Rhode Island, and elsewhere.

"I'm sure there are people who have never done anything like this before," she said. "It's definitely national."

donybrx
Nov 30, 2006, 3:09 PM
Contributions from both coasts and points in between! National effort eh?

Maybe the mounting disgust with WalMart will profoundly help fuel the funding to deny old Alice the ability to steal the (Gross) bacon........sweet!

This says a lot about the nation, about Philadelphia and about loyalty & unity....hooray...it makes my day.........

Pennsgrant
Dec 1, 2006, 6:09 PM
I hope the painting -The Gross Clinic - remains in Philadelphia but I don't think Jefferson University did anything wrong. $68 M dollars can go alot further towards helping the future of Center City than a pianting that was seen by a handful of people a day.

If Italy can lose the Mona Lisa to another country than Pennsylvania can lose the Gross Clinic to another state. Art is very transient. The museums that are filled to capacity in London, New York and Paris -the vast majority of that art came from transactions just like what is happening to The Gross Clinic.

I hope the local art community can save the painting and I hope Jefferson uses that $68 M dollars to improve its campus in center city. If Alice Walton ends up with the painting I'm not disappointed as thats the way the art world works.

mja
Dec 2, 2006, 12:51 PM
If Italy can lose the Mona Lisa to another country than Pennsylvania can lose the Gross Clinic to another state. Art is very transient. The museums that are filled to capacity in London, New York and Paris -the vast majority of that art came from transactions just like what is happening to The Gross Clinic.

Italy didn't lose the Mona Lisa to France. It lost Da Vinci to France. He lived there at the end of his life and personally sold the painting to his good friend the French king.

That said, I agree art has historically been transient, you don't have to go much farther than our own museums to see that. However, that doesn't mean that an artwork can't be important to a particular place and that the citizenry of the place can't rally to keep it in town.

donybrx
Dec 9, 2006, 6:53 PM
Anybody know how much has been raised so far?

bucks native
Dec 12, 2006, 11:33 AM
Sincerest form of flattery for Eakins
Opponents of a sale hope a "Gross Clinic" copy raises awareness.

By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer
December 12, 2006

"It's amazing," said Jonathan Meade, standing in the lobby of Two Penn Center watching Thomas Eakins' painting The Gross Clinic materialize right before his eyes.

There it was: Commanding figure of the thoughtful doctor, fingers closed about a scalpel; patient, thigh slit open, chloroform-drenched cloth over his face, lying next to the doctor; cringing mother, gnarled fingers contorted, turning away; students arrayed up the sides of the clinical amphitheater in the background.

"It catches your eye," said Meade, who was visiting his hometown from Baltimore and was just plain intrigued by the canvas.

But wait. The painting here, leaning against the cool, plain lobby wall, is reddish-brown and bluish and sketchy - a hint and a shadow of the robust, luminous Gross Clinic owned for the last 128 years by Thomas Jefferson University, a few blocks away.

No guards nearby to shoo along curious throngs. No gates or doors to bar access to the work. No ornate gilt frame girdling the canvas.

And that's the point. This Gross Clinic is a full-size copy-in-progress undertaken by painter Charles Cushing to raise awareness - and perhaps some money - to help keep the real Gross Clinic in Philadelphia.

"It's my homage to Eakins," said Cushing, 47, a 1988 graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

He began on Wednesday, working from a variety of reproductions and occasional visits to the real McCoy, now housed in a gallery in Alumni Hall, 1020 Locust St.

The university announced the sale of the Eakins on Nov. 10 to a partnership of out-of-town museums. Proceeds of the $68 million transaction, a record price for an Eakins work, will go toward fulfilling the university's strategic plan, and local institutions have been given until Dec. 26 to match the price and claim the painting.

Now local artists, many of whom studied at the academy where Eakins studied and taught, are working overtime to help raise money for the local effort.

They're selling blue "Keep 'Gross' in Philadelphia" buttons for $2. Some artists have contributed proceeds from sales of their own work to the fund.

Cushing is replicating the painting of the master, he says, to raise awareness of the painting and, if possible, to sell his finished work, with half of the proceeds going to the local drive. (The academy and the Art Museum are leading that effort.)

As of Friday, Cushing had completed an underpainting using ultramarine and burnt sienna. That establishes the basic composition of the 8-by-61/2-foot canvas. Next will come heightened white areas, then color and finer and finer detailing.

Working probably every day, but definitely on duty in the lobby from 1 to 5 p.m. weekdays, Cushing hopes to finish before the Dec. 26 deadline.

"I've never undertaken anything on this scale before," he said. "People are not aware that the painting is this big. They aren't familiar with it."

As he talked, Cushing began to fill some areas with opaque white.

"To me, this is the single greatest painting in American art," he said. "Working on it, I've come to realize that it's not just one of the greatest American paintings, but one of the greatest in Western art."

A man, one foot in a soft cast, stopped and watched and shelled out $2 for a button.

"It would be tragic to lose this," the man, lawyer Kevin Kelly, said, referring perhaps to both copy and original.

"The city needs to maintain its heritage."

Cushing, brush in hand, agreed.

LostInTheZone
Dec 12, 2006, 6:09 PM
heh, I have a Charles Cushing print hanging in my kitchen:

http://www.charlescushing.com/paintings/paintings/1.jpg

I still believe that this painting is a major one, and that it should stay in Philly, but don't you think that hyperbole like "one of the greatest works in western art" might be hurting our case a bit?

Capsule F
Dec 12, 2006, 8:42 PM
Hurting our case? Saying Western art, probably. Saying American art, definitely not.

bucks native
Dec 21, 2006, 10:55 AM
Funds for 'Clinic' at $30 million
Half of what's needed, with five days to go.

By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer
December 21, 2006

With the deadline to keep The Gross Clinic in the city just five days away, almost half the $68 million needed to buy the painting has been raised, according to two Philadelphia Museum of Art board members.

Firm contributions now total about $30 million, they said.

Others pointed out that millions more could be contributed very quickly - virtually by the hour - as the clock ticks down and large donors make final decisions.

But speculation is running rampant around the whole funding drive, and museum trustees, city officials, cultural leaders and donors are increasingly nervous that the complex effort involving big institutions, tight deadlines and high anxiety could unravel.

More than 2,000 contributions from more than 30 states have been received so far, museum sources said, adding that donations are coming in at a rapid pace.

Also, fund-raisers are considering the possibility of bank financing to bridge any gap that might remain come the Dec. 26 deadline.

Tight-lipped trustees of the Art Museum will meet this morning to discuss the campaign and what needs to be done to bring it to a successful conclusion.

Sources on the board, none of whom would speak for attribution because no decisions had been made, speculated that a variety of scenarios would be on the table to boost the breakneck campaign up to the $68 million needed to win the prize - Thomas Eakins' greatest painting, owned by Thomas Jefferson University since 1878.

Anne d'Harnoncourt, director and chief executive officer of the Art Museum, which has partnered with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to lead the fund-raising campaign, declined to comment on any specific aspect of the effort.

She said she was optimistic that the $68 million would be raised and that the painting, considered emblematic of the city and perhaps its greatest work of American art, would remain here. Beyond that, d'Harnoncourt would not go. "It is very sensitive," she said.

Another museum board member said the fund-raising effort was "looking encouraging." He predicted good news.

"I know for a fact that there are people who've contributed who have not contributed to anything like this before," he said. "So it is not the usual suspects. That's a tribute to what the object is."

City officials said encouraging fund-raising news led Mayor Street to withdraw his nomination of The Gross Clinic as a historic object last Friday.

Several sources said Street had been urged to do so - even by some involved in the fund-raising effort - because historic designation would have barred moving the painting without the approval of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. That would apply to the Art Museum and academy as well as any out-of-town museums.

He added that some funders also thought designation might actually impede the fund-raising effort. According to this board member, designation might give possible donors a false sense of complacency. Why contribute if the painting is staying here anyway?

Jefferson officials said they were pleased with the mayor's decision. The university agreed not to move the painting as long as the funding effort continues.

donybrx
Dec 21, 2006, 3:35 PM
$38 Million short? This'll be a fascinating couple of days....I almost lay odds on the Philadelphia community to save the day.....but won't drop dead if not. They, and those from around the nation who sent donations, deserve a lot of kudos for trying hard.......with a $30 M cache financing could be viable.....

PhillyRising
Dec 21, 2006, 9:04 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16292105.htm

Gross Clinic to stay in PhiladelphiaBy Stephan Salisbury
INQUIRER CULTURE WRITER

At a news conference today, Mayor Street announced that Thomas Eakins' masterpiece The Gross Clinic would remain in Philadelphia.

The local fund-raising effort to buy the painting has received more than 2,000 contributions from more than 30 states, sources at the Philadelphia Museum of Art said. Among them were $10 million from Leonore Annenberg, and $3 million each from H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest, Joseph Neubauer, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Thomas Jefferson University announced on Nov. 10 that it had sold the painting, which it had owned since 1878, to a partnership of an Arkansas museum backed by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. But it gave local institutions 45 days to match the record sale price.

Officials said the massive canvas would be on view at the Art Museum in the near future.

donybrx
Dec 21, 2006, 10:33 PM
Phenomenal effort and excellent result! Philadelphians can be very proud of the 'team spirit' that responded so as to protect not only their city's worthy legacy but to embrace civic pride and cohesion, painting or not, in a way that not even mighty NYC did when Ms Walton strode in and copped a very famous art work from the NY Public Library recently...megamuchokudos

Buh bye Alice...don't hurry back.....

LostInTheZone
Dec 21, 2006, 11:08 PM
!

wow, just this morning I saw that only 30 million had been secured, and I was beginning to lose hope, as impressed as I was that that much had been raised to quickly. Boy, the last few months of this year sure have been good. Up yours, Walmart!

a mod should change the thread title to reflect the news:)

McBane
Dec 22, 2006, 12:09 AM
How come the article fails to mention the amount of dollars raised? Something seems to be missing. Anyway, I thought that maybe the slots' winners might donate some money, you know generate some good will.

bucks native
Dec 22, 2006, 2:45 PM
How come the article fails to mention the amount of dollars raised? Something seems to be missing. Anyway, I thought that maybe the slots' winners might donate some money, you know generate some good will.


'Gross Clinic' to stay in city
By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer
December 22, 2006

Capping as wild a fund-raising ride as this city has ever seen, Mayor Street gleefully announced yesterday that Thomas Eakins' The Gross Clinic had been purchased by local institutions and would remain in Philadelphia.

It was a successful conclusion that few thought possible only several weeks ago.

At a packed City Hall news conference, officials said that the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts would share ownership of the 1875 masterpiece.

The two museums, which have led a frantic six-week fund-raising campaign to buy the huge canvas from Thomas Jefferson University, have agreed to take on a still-undetermined amount of debt and pay a record $68 million for what is widely viewed as an embodiment of the city's intellectual and creative life.

Officials highlighted four large contributions to the fund-raising effort: $10 million from the Annenberg Foundation, chaired by Leonore Annenberg; $3 million from H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest; $3 million from Joseph Neubauer; and $3 million from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

In total, over the last several weeks, about $30 million has been raised and more than 2,000 contributions have been received from about 30 states, officials said.

"I think it is a fabulous day - a fabulous day for Philadelphia, a fabulous day for Thomas Eakins," said Anne d'Harnoncourt, director of the Art Museum. "We are all thrilled and humbled by the extraordinary outpouring of support."

"This has truly been an example of civic pride and accomplishment for the entire community," said Lenfest, chairman of the Art Museum board.

Wachovia Bank has agreed to provide the backup financing that allowed the museums to sign an agreement of sale yesterday with Jefferson. No city or other government money is involved in the purchase.

Hugh Long, chief executive officer for Wachovia's MidAtlantic Banking Group, declined to provide any details on the financing. At one point he said, "It's all a secret."

Museum officials likened Wachovia's role to the provision of bridge financing.

Fund-raising for the painting continues, the officials emphasized. Jefferson had set a Dec. 26 deadline for local institutions to put their money on the table. Now, however, the university has extended that deadline to Jan. 31.

If a gap exists between contributions and sale price at the end of January, Wachovia will cover it, the officials said.

Herbert Riband, vice chairman of the academy's board, said it is possible that some works might be sold from museum collections to help cover the costs of the transaction. But he said that was only a possibility.

Jefferson officials did not attend the news conference. Brian Harrison, chairman of Jefferson's board of trustees, issued a statement saying that the university "is pleased" that the painting will remain in Philadelphia and become "accessible to millions of people" visiting the museums. He added that the university was "also pleased that our agreement of sale with PMA and PAFA gave them an additional 30 days to continue the fund-raising period."

The painting, now housed in Alumni Hall, 1020 Locust St., will be on view in the near future first at the Art Museum and then at the Pennsylvania Academy. It will move back and forth after that, probably with lengthy stops at each institution, but details have not been finalized.

Street said he is sending legislation to City Council that would "establish a registry of all important" objects and works of art in the city. Such a registry, he said, would serve as an alarm system if a work is threatened with sale or removal. He offered no further details yesterday.

On Nov. 10, Jefferson stunned the city and its own community by announcing that The Gross Clinic, which had been purchased by alumni for $200 and given to the school in 1878, would be sold. The buyers were a partnership of an unbuilt Arkansas museum, backed by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Christie's auction house brokered the deal, which contained a provision giving local institutions 45 days to match the purchase price and retain the painting in Philadelphia.

At the time, the university said that proceeds from the sale would go toward fulfilling an ambitious 10-year strategic plan that would transform Jefferson's Center City campus.

But many at Jefferson, particularly university alumni, were shocked by news of the sale, and the alumni association urged its members to support the local fund-raising effort.

Yesterday, Lorraine King, president of the alumni association, and Stanton N. Smullens, a member of the alumni executive committee, both said they were extremely gratified by the outcome.

King, who has said the painting represented the heart of Jefferson, said its proximity will at least allow doctors and students to visit it.

Smullens said, "Schools are not bricks and mortar; there's also a soul, and this [painting] is tied to Jefferson's soul completely."

The initial buyers of the painting - the National Gallery and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., where Wal-Mart has its headquarters - issued a joint statement following the new deal:

"We are disappointed that Eakins' Gross Clinic will not be coming to the nation's capital or America's heartland. However, we are pleased for the city of Philadelphia."

Officials at the two museums had no further comment.

Eakins, born in Philadelphia and a graduate of Central High School, was 31 when he took on the subject. His intention was to test his growing artistic powers and to create an homage to Philadelphia's greatest medical achievements; the painting was, then, a metaphor for the city's progressive intellectual life.

The $68 million being paid for the painting is a record not only for Eakins but also for any pre-World War II work of American art.

At yesterday's press conference, Street said he believed it would have been an "irrevocable loss" if the painting left Philadelphia, and he noted that "a couple of thousand people from all over the country" agreed and voted with their dollars.

D'Harnoncourt said that yesterday's announcement amounted to "poetic justice" for Eakins. "He has always exerted a powerful presence," she said.


Contact culture writer Stephan Salisbury at 215-854-5594 or ssalisbury@phillynews.com.

PhillyRising
Dec 22, 2006, 3:24 PM
To me.....people rising up to save a piece of the city's history and culture shows pride in our town. How awful would it be to have a this piece sitting in some museum in East Bumblefuck, Arkansas?

donybrx
Dec 22, 2006, 8:19 PM
The LOSING SIDE gave a snotty brief statement to the effect that........"We are disappointed that "The Gross Clinic" will not be going to either the nation's capital or to the nation's heartland, but we are pleased for Philadelphia..."

Nation's heartland? You mean Chicago has no art?

Note to them: it's staying in the nation's birthplace.......so choke on yer sour grapes and keep your graceless comment.....the nerve....:).

You might be pleased, we are not amused. don't try this again...grrrrrrrr........

PhillyRising
Dec 22, 2006, 8:24 PM
The LOSING SIDE gave a snotty brief statement to the effect that........"We are disappointed that "The Gross Clinic" will not be going to either the nation's capital or to the nation's heartland, but we are pleased for Philadelphia..."



All Mrs. Walton needs to do is get a velvet portrait of Elvis for her little museum. The patrons they attract will probably appreciate that art far more..:haha:

woodrow
Dec 22, 2006, 9:05 PM
WOW - whatta bunch of f*cking snobs you are. While The National Gallery and Crystal Bridges put out an appropriate press release, expressing disappointment and congratulations, the tone from some (and you know who you are) is snotty, puerile, and not at all gracious.

Remember, she could have just bought the painting and given Philly NO CHANCE to scrounge up matching funds.

And before you act all high and mighty about how awful Alice Walton is simply because she is Sam Walton's daughter, maybe you should research the origins of the Annenberg fortune. To call it unseemly is putting it mildly. Superrich people, especially the heirs of the founders, always have and always will behave like A.Walton, and Annenbergs and Fords and Astors and Rockefellers and and and

Also, try not to trash the population of other states. It would be real easy to trash the people of Philly, or any place, without looking much looking.

Finally, Congratulations to the Citizens of Philadelphia. I always felt the painting should stay there. Thanks are in order to Ms.Walton, because she set in motion the events that lead to a painting being displayed where thousands, not hundreds, can see it.

PhillyRising
Dec 22, 2006, 9:12 PM
WOW - whatta bunch of f*cking snobs you are. While The National Gallery and Crystal Bridges put out an appropriate press release, expressing disappointment and congratulations, the tone from some (and you know who you are) is snotty, puerile, and not at all gracious.

Remember, she could have just bought the painting and given Philly NO CHANCE to scrounge up matching funds.

And before you act all high and mighty about how awful Alice Walton is simply because she is Sam Walton's daughter, maybe you should research the origins of the Annenberg fortune. To call it unseemly is putting it mildly. Superrich people, especially the heirs of the founders, always have and always will behave like A.Walton, and Annenbergs and Fords and Astors and Rockefellers and and and

Also, try not to trash the population of other states. It would be real easy to trash the people of Philly, or any place, without looking much looking.

Finally, Congratulations to the Citizens of Philadelphia. I always felt the painting should stay there. Thanks are in order to Ms.Walton, because she set in motion the events that lead to a painting being displayed where thousands, not hundreds, can see it.

Oh no...Mrs.Walton did not give a rats behind over how taking this away from Philly was a loss for this city. She doesn't care about Philadelphia nor do the people running the National Gallery. I'm sick and tired of other parts of this country taking from Philly to make themselves better. Why doesn't Mrs. Walton spend her money and comission some living well known artists to fill her gallery with art? Why do Sun Belt states have to keep taking and taking and taking from the Northeast?

BTW...she could not just buy the painting. The stipulation was that the locals had the right to match before she could ever get the painting and that is exactly what happened.

As for her being the catalyst for people to be able to see the painting....it was the University who did that. It was their property and they wanted to sell it.

donybrx
Dec 22, 2006, 9:38 PM
WOW - whatta bunch of f*cking snobs you are. While The National Gallery and Crystal Bridges put out an appropriate press release, expressing disappointment and congratulations, the tone from some (and you know who you are) is snotty, puerile, and not at all gracious.

Remember, she could have just bought the painting and given Philly NO CHANCE to scrounge up matching funds.

And before you act all high and mighty about how awful Alice Walton is simply because she is Sam Walton's daughter, maybe you should research the origins of the Annenberg fortune. To call it unseemly is putting it mildly. Superrich people, especially the heirs of the founders, always have and always will behave like A.Walton, and Annenbergs and Fords and Astors and Rockefellers and and and

Also, try not to trash the population of other states. It would be real easy to trash the people of Philly, or any place, without looking much looking.

Finally, Congratulations to the Citizens of Philadelphia. I always felt the painting should stay there. Thanks are in order to Ms.Walton, because she set in motion the events that lead to a painting being displayed where thousands, not hundreds, can see it.

Ms Walton, Christie's and the National Gallery cooked this up in complete secrecy...an art ambush, in effect; the national gallery has coverted this work for years and seized this opportunity to get it....they also left themselves vulnerable to the prospect that once the Arkansas museum is compelet that the painting might never return to DC, since no agreement existed.

It was an offensive, opportunistic action on their part that intiated this closeted extortion; their statement in response to the outcome was not gracious in the least......the impression is otherwise.

Philadelphia has no obligation to feel gratitude to any of the originating parties. The City will graciously demur on criticism and will remain appropriately humbled by the real generosity of those who assisted the effort to retain the painting and grateful that it will stay where it belongs in the great historic, culturally important & prominent city of Philadelphia......

I assure you that I have never 'trashed' the populations of other states, in this instance or any other: I am, however, willing to direct criticsm where it might be well deserved....

ergo, please don't make any silly attempt to shame me.....

woodrow
Dec 22, 2006, 10:36 PM
donybrx-
Sorry you didn't catch the sarcasm in my last line. Of course I don't think Philadelphians owe Ms. Walton any gratitude. Especially the thousands who didn't even know the painting existed.

A couple of points - Crystal Bridges may or may not be commissioning new works of art - I don't know. They did commission a potentially beautiful building by a well known and respected architect. But I am befuddled by the idea that a new museum should not buy great works of art. Does that also apply to older, established museums? Should the Philadelphia Musesum of Art not purchase or accept a work of art that they did not commission? You ask why the Sunbelt states keep taking and taking and taking from the Northeast. Simple. They do it because they can. Just as the Northeastern plutocrats of old built financial empires on the backs of underpaid and exploited, so did Sam Walton. And just like the heirs of the old industrial families pillaged THE WORLD, so the heirs of modern fortunes adorn themselves.

Look, as I wrote, I am glad that the painting is staying in Philly. But the tone from the city of brotherly love has been a little pitched. Some news stories and blogs have been so blinded by a hatred of Wal-Mart that they cannot see that this is how art is transfered and in that in Philadelphia the removal of the Barnes Collection from Merion is not entirely dissimilar.

You are correct on them planning this in secrecy. Opportunistic? hmmm, maybe, but not unusual. I don't know that it is much different than any other major art purchase. Major art sales are usually done with a high level of secrecy. I don't completely agree that it was shameful. Sneaky yes, but after "Kindred Spirits," understandable, if not entirely excusable. Shameful would have been to buy it on a Monday at 9:00 AM and have it on a truck by noon. In the future, when Ms. Walton buys something secretly, she won't give the offended city a chance. It will be like the NY Public Library again.

I should note that you certainly did not trash anyone except the immediate parties. Sorry that I did not exclude you from that group.

bucks native
Jan 5, 2007, 11:26 AM
Today, at Art Museum, the prize catch

By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer
January 5, 2007

Beginning at 4 p.m. today, visitors to the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be able to walk into a first-floor gallery and see something that only a couple of months ago seemed highly unlikely.

The Thomas Eakins masterpiece The Gross Clinic, subject of a dramatic fund-raising drive capped by a nick-of-time acquisition just before Christmas, has been dispatched to the museum on early loan from Thomas Jefferson University.

It will be unveiled for the public this afternoon and, after a couple of months, the monumental canvas will move to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

"It seemed great to do this as early in the new year as possible, and Jefferson has been great about it," said Anne d'Harnoncourt, museum director and chief executive.

The Art Museum, in partnership with the academy, acquired what is considered Eakins' greatest painting, by matching a $68 million record price that two out-of-town museums were prepared to pay.

Jefferson has owned The Gross Clinic since 1878, when it was donated by alumni, and announced it was selling in November. Local institutions were given 45 days to meet, and therefore beat, the offer. They did.

Both the Art Museum and the academy are hoping the high visibility of the painting at the Art Museum will help them in their efforts to raise as much of the $68 million as possible before the Jan. 31 closing date.

On Dec. 22, the two institutions announced that they had raised $30 million from about 2,300 contributors and that Wachovia Bank would provide any bridge financing necessary to complete the sale.

Donald Caldwell, chairman of the academy, said yesterday that Jefferson was amenable to a loan of the artwork in advance of closing and was supportive of the museums' efforts to raise as much of the $68 million as possible.

"We went... to them and said we'd like to get the painting because it might help with fund-raising," Caldwell said. "They thought about it and came back and said yes."

In a statement, Jefferson officials said they were pleased the painting would remain in Philadelphia.

"It has been an honor for us to own this great painting," said Robert L. Barchi, university president, "and it is now an honor to share it with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, in advance of the conclusion of the sale.

"We hope this loan will help the fund-raisers keep up the momentum of their campaign, which has galvanized Philadelphia and art lovers around the country."

Museum officials said donations to the Eakins fund continued to flow in and had reached about 2,600 contributors. They could not provide an update on the amount that has been raised.

The Gross Clinic will be owned by the two museums. After this initial presentation at the Art Museum and the academy, a permanent schedule for sharing should be completed, officials said, with the painting probably moving back and forth every couple of years.

D'Harnoncourt said yesterday that The Gross Clinic would be displayed in the Colket Gallery, adjacent to the Great Stair Hall, for this initial viewing.

On exhibit at the same time will be a portrait of Eakins by his wife, Susan Hannah Macdowell Eakins, who donated her collection to the museum. One of several preparatory oil sketches for The Gross Clinic will also be on view.

Kathleen Foster, the Art Museum's curator of American art, and Lynn Marsden-Atlass, senior curator at the academy, where Eakins studied and taught, will be on hand today to talk with visitors about the painting, Eakins, and the complex web tying the artist to his city. The museum is open until 8:45 p.m. on Fridays.

"What this means is that Philadelphia has captured, for all time, Eakins' greatest work," Foster said. She noted that, given the wealth of Eakins' work and memorabilia in the collections of both museums, visitors would now be able "to understand the sweep of his career," as well as "his ancestors and his legacy."

"It's a real high point for the two institutions," she said. "It's magnificent."

See more on the Eakins painting and museum fund-raising efforts via http://go.philly.com/grossclinic


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Contact culture writer Stephan Salisbury at 215-854-5594 or ssalisbury@phillynews.com.