The Orange County Museum of Art has recently sold 18 of its 20 California Impressionist paintings to an undisclosed private collector, the Los Angeles Times reported today.
The sale has prompted criticisms from two local museum directors, Bolton Colburn of the Laguna Art Museum and Jean Stern of the Irvine Museum, who say the secrecy violated the public interest.
Two of the paintings were “Spring in the Canyon” by William Wendt and “Silver and Gold” by Granville Redmond. “Spring in the Canyon” was recently exhibited at the Laguna Art Museum’s retrospective on Wendt.
The 18 paintings were sold for $963,000. That money will reportedly be used to purchase modern and contemporary pieces for OCMA’s permanent collection.
OCMA director of communications Chivan Wang refused to offer details and referred inquiries about this case to museum director Dennis Szakacs.
When reached by phone, Szakacs, who was in Venice, Italy, Monday night, said, “I have nothing else to add.”
He also said, “It’s not my job to make your job easier.”
So, here’s the story about the sale that appeared in today’s L.A. Times.
They doth protest too much- me thinks.
- “It’s not my job to make your job easier.”
WoW. what a professional museum director. According to the Form990 filing, Szakacs’s annual salary was $222K, you would think he knows how important it is to be nice to the media.