Unknown (Fred Ross)
Price: $1,755,000
Anonymous buyer revealed 11/22
Fred Ross, founder of the Art Renewal Center
Unknown
Price: $68,750
Unknown
Price: $75,000
Unknown
Estimate: $1.5 – 2.5M
Link: ‘Giant Redwoods Trees’ will fall at Berkshire Museum despite interpretive value
Public (while not accessible to the public, foundation ownership indicates it remains in the public domain. )
Price: Sold through private transaction.
Link: Calder statement from 1933 Berkshire Museum Exhibition
Private Transaction
Price: $262,500
Unknown
Price: $8,131,000
(gifted to the Berkshire Museum from the artist, 1966)
Public (while not accessible to the public, foundation ownership indicates it remains in the public domain.)
Price: $1,215,000
Private Transaction
Price: $325,000
Unknown
Price: $300,000
Unknown
Price: $225,000
Private transaction with
the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Purported Sale Price: $30 million
(Loaned to the Norman Rockwell Museum
for 18 months)
Unknown
Price: $137,500
Unknown
Price: $975,000
Public
Sold to PAFA; PAFA will offer free admission to Berkshire County Residents in perpetuity.
Price: $5 – 7M (sale price unknown)
Private Transaction
Price: $312,500
Private Transaction
Price: $759,000
Unknown
Price: $1,335,000
(withdrawn from the November 2017 American Art auction due to MA temporary injunction)
Unknown
Price: $1,119,000
The Berkshire Museum signed a contract with Sotheby’s removing the most valuable paintings and sculpture without the Pittsfield community’s knowledge or participation in the decision-making process. Leadership ignored repeated requests for a public forum, and there was no time or opportunity to organize a farewell exhibition or keepsake catalogue. Added to the loss are lingering questions as to where the paintings are now located. Sotheby’s is not obliged to release purchaser information, and it is not known whether 15 of these cherished works of art are held in public or private collections.
Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop is the most commercially valuable of the two Rockwell’s gifted to the Museum by the artist for the public to enjoy in perpetuity. It was the crown jewel of the collection and a source of pride, and the most significant loss to the community.
SAVE THE ART (STA)
A grassroots citizens group established in 2017 with the intent of stopping the sale of the Berkshire Museum’s treasured art collection in order to find an alternate solution to its continued financial shortfall.