Campus museums, galleries vow to safeguard collections

These are just a few of the important works of art hiding out on Greater Boston campuses.

Lingering questions about the future of Brandeis University's highly regarded Rose Art Museum have shaken members of the academic arts community, who are facing their own struggles to safeguard and showcase their treasures amid the flagging economy.

Wellesley College, Boston College, Phillips Academy, and Tufts University all have noteworthy collections or museums that are seen as a key part of their educational missions. While none seem in danger, officials say, they are being financially cautious.

"We're making reductions in our budget and we know we're going to have to make more," said Brian Allen, director of Phillips Academy's Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover. "Our annual fund-raising has been very strong in the face of this terrible calamity, but everyone has been affected and we don't know what the future is going to hold for us."

Trustees at Brandeis voted late last month to close the Rose Museum and sell its $350 million collection, which includes works by Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, and Warhol.

After a storm of criticism, Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz apologized to the Brandeis community and tried to back away from such drastic measures. Later, he sent an e-mail to faculty and students saying "the museum will remain open," in a new role "more fully integrated into the university's central educational mission."

In an interview the day before the e-mail, Reinharz had said the Rose would shift from a public museum to an educational center for the Brandeis community, with the public still allowed to visit. And, he emphasized Brandeis would sell only "a minute number" of its 7,180 works "if and when it is necessary."

At Phillips Academy, Allen said he is not worried that the Addison, which owns works by Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Jackson Pollock, could face closing. Still, he said, the Rose's news was shocking to anyone in his line of work.

The Addison Gallery is comparable to a major college collection, with 16,000 objects and an annual budget of about $3 million. It is closed during a multimillion-dollar renovation, the funds for which were raised before the recession, Allen said.

The recession has not caused any major cuts, such as staff reductions, but the gallery is being more financially cautious, he said, cutting out use of overnight mail, for example, and doing more of its own communication and outreach to save money.

Dennis McFadden, interim director at Wellesley College's Davis Museum and Cultural Center, called the prospect of the Rose's demise "heartbreaking," but added it would be an unlikely scenario at his facility. "Of course you think could it happen, but then you immediately think this is an institution that has such strong ongoing support, it's not as troubling as it could be. If you take a broader perspective, you always fear - of course you do."

Wellesley started its art collection in 1875, right after its founding. Famous artists in the collection include John Singer Sargent, Paul Cezanne, and Monet. But it also has works by modern artists such as Kiki Smith, as well pieces from ancient Greece and Rome.

McFadden became interim director in September, when the previous director resigned two weeks after the discovery that a valuable painting was lost. (It has not been found, but there is still hope it will be located, he said.)

"On the Wellesley campus generally, this is a difficult time," he said. "We are trying to be financially conservative as we look out several years in the programs we undertake or commit to."

There have been no cuts to staff at the Davis, which has an annual budget of about $3.5 million, said McFadden. Donors have been loyal, he said, but there is no denying that they are being affected by the recession as well. "For most educational institutions that have endowments, what we're most concerned about is what the impact is going to be two and three years out."

Wellesley's president, H. Kim Bottomly, said in an e-mail statement: "In these difficult times, every college will require a focus on the economic impact of all programs and budgets. However, Wellesley will maintain its long-term devotion to supporting and preserving the arts . . . recognizing our responsibility as custodians to the world of art for both previous and future generations."

Boston College has a small collection, including American landscapes and portraits from 1840 to 1940, sacred scenes by Italian painters from the 16th to 18th centuries, and Flemish tapestries from the 16th and 17th centuries.

But the emphasis at the college's McMullen Museum of Art isn't on its permanent collection but rather on featuring "groundbreaking exhibitions" from around the world, according to director Nancy Netzer, who is also an art history professor at BC.

Faculty at the college organize the exhibitions and help decide what will be shown and how, she said. That is the case with an upcoming show, "The Book as Art: Artists' Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts," which opens Saturday.

The museum has seen the same modest cuts of 2 percent that all departments at Boston College have been assessed, which Netzer said have not been difficult to absorb.

Any additional cuts would not be known until next month, when BC's board of trustees meets, according to Jack Dunn, a college spokesman. Boston College is fortunate in that just 10 percent of its operating budget comes from its endowment income, he said.

The Tufts University Art Gallery includes works by Warhol, Joan Miró, and Sargent.

The Medford school said that it expects a 25 percent drop in its $1.5 billion endowment by the end of the fiscal year, which would mean about $24 million in lost income. Also, in December, the school announced it had lost $20 million that had been invested with Bernard Madoff, a Wall Street trader accused of masterminding a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

"Tufts is continuing to respond to the economic downturn that has affected universities across the country," the university said in an e-mailed response to questions about its situation, and cited "a number of belt-tightening measures such as putting new capital projects on hold and forgoing salary increases. At this point, we are fortunate that we have been able to accomplish these measures without impacting our core mission: excellence in teaching and research."

As they watch events at Brandeis unfold, museum directors at other campuses have tried to calculate how the art world could be affected.

One of the biggest losses could be the Rose Museum's "great experimental shows," said Allen, noting that "often academic art museums are the only ones that will do shows like that."

Allen also noted the initial statements that Brandeis would be selling its collection made little sense. "They are talking about liquidating an asset, monetizing the collection at a time when art prices are dropping," he said. "The art market is moribund."

McFadden said what is happening at the Rose calls into question what it means to be a museum, which he said he has always considered a public trust.

"The works that are given to a museum . . . the museum holds in trust from previous generations for future generations."

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@globe.com.