Mask and Wig alum upset by auction

The upcoming auction by the Mask and Wig Club of a significant work by American artist Maxfield Parrish has raised eyebrows throughout the art world. The club is selling the painting, entitled "Old King Cole," May 23 at Christie's in New York to help alleviate financial difficulties, according to 1984 College graduate Craig Klofach, president of the Mask and Wig Graduate Club. Klofach said the club's debts stem from maintenance and insurance payments on their 100-year-old Center City clubhouse and the costs of putting on annual productions. "The club has eaten through a great quantity of assets," Klofach said. "We've run out of assets that we can eat through." But 1962 College graduate Lawrence Cutler, the exclusive representative of the Maxfield Parrish Family Trust, said he was "appalled" that the club is auctioning the Parrish painting. Cutler explained that the Parrish work is a "unique milestone piece by one of the greatest artists this country has ever produced." "I think the club really jumped the gun by going to auction," he added. "Auction is usually a last resort -- I don't think the club investigated alternatives other than auction." According to Cutler, had Mask and Wig considered "other routes," a private buyer could have been found who would be willing to donate the artwork to the University. "They should have looked at more simple ways to handle a complicated situation," Cutler added. But according to Klofach, the club thought "long and hard" about auctioning the piece. He said the board of Mask and Wig contemplated selling the painting 10 years ago, but the idea was voted down. "But we weren't in the financial position that we're in today," Klofach explained. "And the decision is one that the entire board is in agreement with." In a letter to the March 26 edition of the Almanac, Klofach wrote that the Board of Governors of Mask and Wig had "carefully studied the options" since July 1995 regarding its financial woes. "Sale of the Mask and Wig Club's Parrish art has not been a sudden, whimsical decision," he wrote. Because the University has so few pieces of major artwork, the drive to keep the Parrish within the University community has intensified. According to Art History Professor and Graduate Chairperson David Brownlee, the University owns a "couple works of great art," including the Thomas Aikens painting in the Medical School, and a "small handful of valuable paintings." "For a major university, we have a very small collection of art," he said. "Parrish's significance seems relatively greater because the institution is so poor in such things." But in a sentiment echoed by Treasurer Scott Lederman, Brownlee explained that it is "difficult" to rationalize spending nearly $1 million to save "Old King Cole." "It's very difficult for us to justify raising money for that mural, given all the needs we have for academic program development," Lederman said. "We don't have the funds." Indeed, the only way the painting will stay at the University is if an alumnus purchases it at auction and donates it to the University -- because a private sale is no longer an option, according to Cutler. The auction cannot be called off, Cutler said. But he added that Christie's is willing to help work out a payment or financing schedule for buyers if the painting's "ultimate destination would be to reside again at the University."

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