Valparaiso sued over planned art sale

Two former professors have filed a suit to block the sale of some art by Valparaiso University, ARTnews reported.

The two professors who sued are Richard Brauer, the museum’s first director and its namesake, and Philipp Brockington, a former professor at Valparaiso’s law school who has an endowment in his name at the museum.

The fight involves the controversial planned sale of three valuable works of art from the museum’s permanent collection. The paintings—by Georgia O’Keeffe, Frederic E. Church and Childe Hassam—are estimated to be worth a collective $20 million.

The university says it needs to sell the paintings to refurbish the freshman dormitories.

But the professors and many others say the sale would violate rules on deaccessioning.