N.Y. Art museum scraps sculpture sale

[Merlion]

Interesting. I do not know of this 25-year restriction on a museum after receiving a donated artpiece (at least in the US).

N.Y. Art museum scraps sculpture sale

NEW YORK, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has scrapped plans to sell its only sculpture by Spanish artist Eduardo Chillida, it was reported Saturday.

The 7-foot long steel sculpture called "Silent Music II" was to be auctioned Feb. 9 by Sotheby's in London, the New York Times reported. However, a spokeswoman for the museum said the piece was withdrawn because MOMA officials failed to notify the donor, which is mandatory if a piece is going to be sold within 25 years of the donation date.

Dallas collector Frank Ribelin donated the sculpture in 1986. He told the Times he was not notified of the sale and only found out about it after a friend pointed it out to him on Sotheby's Web site.

The site describes the sculpture as "unquestionably the most important work by Chillida to ever appear at auction" and estimated it would fetch £1 million to £1.5 million ($1.8 million to $2.6 million). [snip]

News article taken from here.

A picture of the sculpture can be found here.
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I've just found more details, from the New York Times. And this restriction is an internal policy of the NY Met Museum.

Happy reading.

[fused]

A M A Z I N G . . .

Gary Tinterow, the head of the Met's department of 19th-century, modern and contemporary art said, "We are selling the work because it has been on display three times in 20 years and it's a very large work, and it should be seen outside, and our roof garden is now devoted to changing shows of works by living sculptors."

Mr. Tinterow is obviously very sensitive about sculpture placements.

"I'm of the opinion, and this is very important to me, that we are from somewhere. Ideally, we are from one place, where our roots are, but we should reach out to the entire world and borrow ideas from other cultures. Anyplace can be perfect for the person who's adapted to it. Here in the Basque Country I feel like I'm where I belong, like a tree adapted to the land, but with branches that reach out to the rest of the world. I'm trying to create the work of a person, my own work because I am who I am, and since this is where I'm from, my work will take on particular tones, a sort of dark light, our light." Eduardo Chillida