Here We Go Again?

Mural, Jackson Pollock, 1943/University Of Iowa Art Museum

The website of the Iowa weekly Cityview is reporting that state legislators there are quietly talking about forcing the University of Iowa to sell Mural, the great Jackson Pollock owned by the University's art museum. (A nod to Tyler Green at Modern Art Notes for pointing up the Cityview item.)

You'll remember that there was a brief uproar around that painting last August, after the U. of I. campus suffered serious flood damage. Michael Gartner, chairman of the school's Board of Regents, suggested selling the Pollock — which at the time may have been worth $140 million — to raise money for flood repair. (This notwithstanding that The Des Moines register was reporting that the school's flood insurance was nearly sufficient to cover those costs.)

That time, the suggestion was met by the kind of opposition that blew it away. And this time?