http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/04/12/another_eakins_going_going_gon/ Reflections on art and architecture by TIME critic Richard Lacayo. Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:06:59 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/04/12/another_eakins_going_going_gon/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Hugh J.McNichol Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:41:32 +0000 http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/04/12/another_eakins_going_going_gon/#comment-42 It deserves to be said again. Shame on you, Thomas Jefferson University for selling Philadelphia's art heritage to a persistent and extremely wealthy buyer. Thomas Eakins', Portrait of Professor Benjamin Rand is headed to Dixie. Its new home will be the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. Come on Jefferson University, why not get over it and announce whatever else is up for grabs in this artistic flea market. Philadelphians take their local, "boys done good" seriously, and the loss of another of Eakins' paintings raises more animosity than the War Between the States. Alice Walton has an admirable project in mind in the development of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Its fruition however should not be realized at Philadelphia's expense. Much to Ms. Walton's credit, her persistence and tenacity is admired. It takes a lot of Southern charm, in the form of Yankee Dollars to pry open the art vault at the venerable Jefferson. Why is it, this authors feels that the charm will continue to exude as the university liquidates its local treasures of the brush. Now Doctors and esteemed Jefferson board members, Philadelphia is very wise to the carpet bagging profiteering that is taking place behind closed surgical doors. The issue is no longer about Thomas Eakins and his works. The issue is institutional trust. While Thomas Jefferson University has shamelessly engaged in a local public relations battle with all Philadelphians, the public will suffer a defeat over a collection of canvases, but Jefferson will fall victim to institutional barbarism and plundering. When will the sales stop? How many empty walls need to be revealed before this artistic carnage is ended? Only Jefferson University knows the answer to these questions. Be forewarned Philadelphians…there will be more Confederate dollars making their way up the I-95 corridor before this is all over. In a previous blog, I reported that the Visigoths were invading Philadelphia by way of the Schuylkill expressway. I was wrong. Confederate opportunists are marching towards the cultural institutions on the Ben Franklin Parkway, they are well armed with sawbucks and they have targets in their minds. If Philadelphians think Jefferson University will hold fast our colors, they are widely mistaken. Jefferson has already fallen back, taken the plunder and is marching towards the sea. If the battle over institutional trust needs to be fought in Philadelphia's artistic bivouac…the reality is this. The South will rise again! It deserves to be said again. Shame on you, Thomas Jefferson University for selling Philadelphia's art heritage to a persistent and extremely wealthy buyer. Thomas Eakins', Portrait of Professor Benjamin Rand is headed to Dixie. Its new home will be the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. Come on Jefferson University, why not get over it and announce whatever else is up for grabs in this artistic flea market. Philadelphians take their local, "boys done good" seriously, and the loss of another of Eakins' paintings raises more animosity than the War Between the States. Alice Walton has an admirable project in mind in the development of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Its fruition however should not be realized at Philadelphia's expense. Much to Ms. Walton's credit, her persistence and tenacity is admired. It takes a lot of Southern charm, in the form of Yankee Dollars to pry open the art vault at the venerable Jefferson. Why is it, this authors feels that the charm will continue to exude as the university liquidates its local treasures of the brush. Now Doctors and esteemed Jefferson board members, Philadelphia is very wise to the carpet bagging profiteering that is taking place behind closed surgical doors. The issue is no longer about Thomas Eakins and his works. The issue is institutional trust. While Thomas Jefferson University has shamelessly engaged in a local public relations battle with all Philadelphians, the public will suffer a defeat over a collection of canvases, but Jefferson will fall victim to institutional barbarism and plundering. When will the sales stop? How many empty walls need to be revealed before this artistic carnage is ended? Only Jefferson University knows the answer to these questions. Be forewarned Philadelphians…there will be more Confederate dollars making their way up the I-95 corridor before this is all over. In a previous blog, I reported that the Visigoths were invading Philadelphia by way of the Schuylkill expressway. I was wrong. Confederate opportunists are marching towards the cultural institutions on the Ben Franklin Parkway, they are well armed with sawbucks and they have targets in their minds. If Philadelphians think Jefferson University will hold fast our colors, they are widely mistaken. Jefferson has already fallen back, taken the plunder and is marching towards the sea. If the battle over institutional trust needs to be fought in Philadelphia's artistic bivouac…the reality is this. The South will rise again!

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