A Gross Uproar
A Month That Has Shaken the Art World
November 2006 By Denny Hatch
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In the News
Jefferson alums rip sale of EakinsAt a packed meeting Wednesday night, alumni of Thomas Jefferson University expressed their dismay at the school’s decision to sell Thomas Eakins’ incomparable painting, The Gross Clinic, and at the secrecy with which the sale was conducted, participants said.
—Stephan Salisbury, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 17, 2006
Finally, when it came to the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the 2001-2002 exhibition, “Thomas Eakins: American Realist,” I was able to spend time with it.
It is a beauty (see the illustration at the end of this article)—a monumental work described by the Inquirer art critic Edward J. Sozanski “as the greatest work by the city’s most famous and talented artist. Any list of the top 10 American paintings must include Thomas Eakins’ painting, notable both for its multiple levels of meaning and for its compositional power and technical brilliance.”
The scene is of a gory operation being performed by four surgeons wearing black business outfits in the Jefferson Hospital amphitheater. The centerpiece is Dr. Samuel D. Gross, also in black formal wear, lecturing to the medical students behind him in the gallery.
Two weeks ago, Philadelphians awoke to the announcement that this great treasure—compared by some to Rembrandt’s Night Watch—had been sold by Thomas Jefferson University to a private buyer for $68 million in a secret deal.
The culture vultures of Philly—who have been given 45 days to match the offer—have been in a snit ever since.
Should a corporation sell off its assets when it needs money?
Hell, yes!
The Reader’s Digest Collection
When my wife, Peggy, and I took over Target Marketing, I wrote a cover story about the new list person at Reader’s Digest and motored up to the Pleasantville, N.Y., headquarters for the interview, which took place in the executive offices.
As I rounded a corner in the building, I beheld Modigliani’s 1919 Portrait de Jeanne Hebuterne, with a sweet face, and wearing a black top and maroon skirt. The figure was composed of an elegant series of swoops and S-shapes, and it was hanging over a small table with a vase of fresh flowers beneath it. A matching portrait was similarly hung on the opposite side of the room. I was agog.
In the words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “B-B-B-Baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-n-nothin’ yet!”
Takeaway Points to Consider:
* Jefferson University—wisely, I believe—decided that its business model is education rather than hoarding art and took action.* Reader’s Digest also decided that its business model was publishing and that its loyalty was to its employees, customers and stockholders, rather than its art collection, and took action.
* As a direct marketer, I believe the main asset of a business is a roster of happy customers and that the next most important assets are between the ears of its employees. It shouldn’t be the art on the walls unless the business is a museum.
* I can’t count the number of clients I had in the 1970s and 1980s that were given large sums of money to start magazines, whereupon they opened big flashy offices, hired employees, bought art and went broke.
* Is your business sitting on assets that aren’t being used?
* Last week, G.M. and Ford—both in desperate financial shape—agreed to put up for collateral many of their prime assets in order to secure loans. Back in the 1960s, when I was stone broke, I pawned a gold watch. Same thing with G.M. and Ford, just more zeros on the amount received.
* If you want art in the office, buy prints. They’re pretty, and it’s no big deal if the cleaning people walk off with one.
* Poke holes in the arguments of your associates, but not in a $139 million Picasso.
Web Sites Related to Today's Edition:
The Eakins Gallery, Thomas Jefferson Universityhttp://www.jefferson.edu/eakins/
The Reader’s Digest Collection
http://tinyurl.com/y3apna
The Dream Garden by Parrish and Tiffany
http://tinyurl.com/e9vje
The Queen’s Newly Discovered Caravaggio
http://tinyurl.com/y5vqwh
Picasso’s Le Reve, Destroyed by Steve Wynn
http://tinyurl.com/2fpsf
Sotheby’s
http://search.sothebys.com/
Christie’s
http://www.christies.com
Companies Mentioned:
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