The Prendergast Library Board of Trustees during its Nov. 30, 2017 special meeting.

JAMESTOWN – The James Prendergast Library board of trustees held a special meeting Thursday determine how to proceed with six classic oil paintings by European artists that were not sold during a recent auction at Sotheby’s. On Nov. 21 a total of nine paintings from the library’s classic art collection were put up for auction, but only three were bid on.

The library board decided earlier this year to sell the classic art collection in order to help address financial challenges, including a decrease in fundraising and a reduction in aid from the city.  The state attorney general’s office permitted the sale of the artwork, but only if done through an auction house.

So far, 12 of the more than 2 dozen classic art paintings from the library have sold for a total of $846,000. The estimated value of the collection is $1.17 million.  The estimated value of the six paintings that didn’t receive a bid at auction is $350,000 to $500,000.

Library board president Tom Rankin informed the board that the two options available is to wait and put the oil paintings back up for auction next year, or they could entertain post-sale offers, in which a prospective buyer could offer Sotheby’s a price below reserve for a painting or paintings and the library board can then determine if it is acceptable or not.

The board voted that the library would try again to auction the artwork through Sotheby’s at a date to be determined, which would most likely be in November 2018.  In the meantime, the board’s finance committee will review any offers that are made and make a recommendation to the full board on whether or not the offer is acceptable, at which time the board would then vote on selling the artwork.

“We’re not trying to solicit offers. If they come in and Sotheby’s sends them to us, we will look at them, but we’re not at this point putting out the word to send us offers,” Rankin said. “Our official position is that we are going to relist them in November 2018.”

Rankin said that currently Sotheby’s has received two offers for two of the six paintings, although he could not disclose what those offers were for.

Rankin also said that despite another recent push on social media calling on residents to request the library keep the six paintings that were unable to receive a bid during the Nov. 21 auction, no one has reached out to library officials to make that request formally known.

“No one has contacted me directly about ‘saving the art’ – to use that term. No one has contacted the board officially. And no one on the board has mentioned that they’ve heard anything,” Rankin said. “The comments I have heard in general are supportive. I think, in general, nobody is happy that we don’t have the art anymore, but people understand, given the way the city has decided to cut our funding in a very draconian way, that we really don’t have choice anymore.”

On Monday the Jamestown City Council approved its 2018 budget, which slashes library funding by $50,000 – a 50 percent decrease  from the current year and a more than 85 percent reduction in funding from what the library was getting in 2015.

Only two members of the public where at Thursday’s meeting and only one person addressed the board, asking questions related to Jesse and Cathy Marion and their offer in 2016 to purchase the artwork and keep it in Jamestown. The Marion’s are a philanthropic couple from Texas who have roots in Chautauqua County and wanted to preserve the art collection for the residents of the city. However, the library was instructed by the state attorney general that it could not sell the collection to a private buyer, but would instead have to sell it through an auction house.

Prior to offering to purchase the collection outright in 2016, the Marions also pledged a $60,000 donation in 2015 if the library would hold off on selling the art collection for one year and work with them on finding an alternate solution. On Thursday night Rankin said the Marions made a donation of just, $30,000 – not the full $60,000.

The library’s finance committee will meet on Dec. 7 to review the two bids, as well as discuss and finalize the 2018 budget. The meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. is open to the public, although any discussion related to the offers for the art collection will likely take place in executive session.

The Prendergast Library’s board of trustees during its Oct. 19, 2017 meeting.

JAMESTOWN – The James Prendergast Library board of trustees will hold an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon, Nov. 30,  to determine how  to proceed with six paintings in its classic art collection that failed to sell at auction earlier this month.

On Nov. 21 a total of nine paintings were auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York City, with three of the paintings selling for $507,750. However, six other paintings were not sold. Those paintings estimated value was $350,000 to $500,000.

Following the auction, Library board president Tom Rankin said that the library went with a reserve price for each of the paintings that was recommended by Sotheby’s, and the high reserve may have been what prevented the pieces from being sold.

The board will discuss what to do with the paintings that didn’t sell during its meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m.  That meeting is open to the public and some individuals in the community who are against the art sale could be on hand to urge the board to not sell the paintings. However, another news outlet has reported that Rankin has already stated the paintings will go back to auction and today’s meeting will focus on the process of selling them, not whether or not they should remain in possession of the library.

So far, 12 of the more than 2 dozen classic art paintings from the library have sold for a total of $846,000. The estimated value of the collection is $1.17 million.

The library has been faced with financial challenges in recent years due to a decline in donations from the community, as well as a reduction in aid from the city of Jamestown. In response, the library board made the decision to auction the vast majority of pieces in its art collection.

Giovanni Boldini’s In the Garden, which was part of the Prendergast Library’s classic art collection, sold for $399,000 at auction at Sotheby’s on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017.

NEW YORK – Three more paintings from the James Prendegast Library Art Collection sold at auction on Tuesday, Nov. 21, but six others that were also up for sale didn’t receive a single bid.

According to the Sotheby’s website, the three paintings that sold (listed at the end of this report) as part of the European artists auction had a combined hammer price of $507,750. The three had an estimated value between $480,000 to $715,000.

The top selling painting was Giovanni Boldini’s In the Garden, which had a hammer price of $399,000. It was estimated to be worth between $400,000 and $600,000.

The art sale is part of the Library’s effort to auction off its $1.17 million classic art collection.

In addition the three paintings that sold on Tuesday, six others didn’t sell. They were:

• Charles Victor Thirion’s Paysanne de la Creause, estimated value of $50,000 to $70,000;
• Jules Joseph Lefebvre’s Fatima, estimated value of $60,000 to $80,000;
• Jehan Georges Vibert’s Le Nouveau Commis, estimated value of $30,000 to $40,000;
• Emilio Sánchez Perrier’s Environs de Tanger, estimated value of $80,000 to $120,000;
• Martín Rico y Ortega’s Ponte Dell’Angelo, estimated value of $80,000 to $120,000;
• Johann Mari Henri ten Kate’s Behind the Ramparts, estimated value of $50,000 to $70,000.

Following the auction on Tuesday, library board president Tom Rankin told WRFA that it was disappointing the six paintings didn’t sell at auction. He said that the library went with a reserve price for each of the paintings that was recommended by Sotheby’s, and the high reserve may have been what prevented the pieces from being sold.

Rankin said that the board will discuss what to do with the paintings that didn’t sell at auction during a special board meeting, scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m.  That meeting is open to the public. He adds that when the board acted on selling the artwork earlier this year, the approved resolution stated that the sale must be done through auction.

The library has been faced with financial challenges in recent years due to a decline in donations from the community, as well as a reduction in aid from the city of Jamestown. In response, the library board made the decision to auction the vast majority of pieces in its art collection. That decision was meant with opposition by some members of the community, who felt the classic artwork should remain in Jamestown for the community to appreciate, as was the intent when the collection was first put together more than a century ago.

This past summer, the New York State Attorney General’s office granted permission to the library to deaccession and sell the collection, but only if done through auction.

In October, six other pieces sold at a Sotheby’s auction for a combined hammer price of $328,500.  Before auction, the total estimated value of those six paintings was $55,200-$85,800.  Three other paintings also sold in October at Stair Galleries with a final total hammer price of $9,900.

So far, 12 paintings have been sold since the library board voted earlier this year to auction off the art collection.  The total hammer price for the nine paintings is $846,150, although a large portion of that total comes from the sale of two paintings – Boldini’s In the Garden (which, as listed above, sold for $399,000) and Jasper Cropsey’s Lake George, which sold for $275,000 on Oct. 6.  Combined, the two paintings brought in $674,000.

Library officials have said that any funding from the artwork auctions will be applied to the library’s endowment fund, rather than it’s general operating budget, despite there being a budget gap for 2018 due to a proposal by the city to reduce library aid by $50,000. That reduction has yet to be finalized by city council and library officials are hoping the council will restore the cut before approving a final spending plan for the city, which is due by Dec. 1.

More than a dozen other paintings from the collection will also go to auction early next year. That will feature “Old Master and 19th Century European Art”pieces and is slated to take place on Feb. 1, 2018.

PRENDERGAST PAINTINGS SOLD AT AUCTION

Nov. 21, 2017 Sotheby’s Auction

Giovanni Boldini – IN THE GARDEN
Estimate $400,000 — 600,000
Sold for 399,000

Alfred Stevens – LA NEIGE
Estimate $70,000 — 100,000
Sold for 68,750

Anton Mauve – CARTING THE LOG
Estimate $10,000 — 15,000
Sold for $40,000

Oct. 28, 2017 Stair Galleries Auction

Otton Von Thoren – THE RELAY
Estimate $2,000-4,000
Sold for $5,000

Walter Gay – AFTER THE HUNT
Estimate $ 5,000-10,000
Sold for $4,000

Douglas Duder – EAST RIVER
Estimate $ 800-1,200
Sold for $900

October 6, 2017 Sotheby’s Auction

Jasper Francis Cropsey – LAKE GEORGE
Estimate: $30,000 — 50,000
Hammer Price: $275,000
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.55.html

Chauncey Foster Ryder – CAMEL’S HUMP
Estimate $3,000 – 5,000
Hammer Price: $16,250
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.59.html

William Trost Richards –EBBING TIDE
Estimate $15,000 — 20,000
Hammer Price: $15,000
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.54.html

Chauncey Foster Ryder – SNOW IN NOVEMBER
Estimate $3,000 — 5,000
Hammer Price: $11,875
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.57.html

John Francis Murphy – THE DAY IS DONE
Estimate $1,200 — 1,800
Hammer Price: $5,625
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.56.html

Charles Warren Eaton – AN OCTOBER SUNSET
Estimate $3,000 — 4,000
Hammer Price: $4,750
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.58.html

According to the Jamestown Post-Journal, the library board recently met and discussed officers for 2018, with current board vice president Joni Blackman expected to assume the role of president for next year.

Blackman will replace Tom Rankin, who is terming off of the board next month.

The board has been faced with challenges and criticism in recent years. A drop in donations from the public, combined with significant reductions in funding from the city has led the library board and executive Director Tina Scott scrambling to find ways to make ends meet. They’ve done so by cutting back on hours of operation, reducing staff size, and also auctioning off the library’s classic art collection, valued at $1.17 million.

So far nine paintings have been sold and have brought in $338,400, with an additional nine paintings going to auction at Sotheby’s tomorrow.

The library’s annual operating budget for this year is just under $1 million.

During the meeting representatives from the James Prendergast Library will be on hand to make the case for no funding cuts from the city for the library in 2018. That may be a difficult task for the City Council, which is working to find a way to offset a $950,000 budget deficit for next year.

In his executive budget, Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi called for a  50 percent cut in library funding, from $100,000 this year to just $50,000 in 2018. That’s just 14 percent of the funding the city had provided for the library in 2015.

During its October meeting, Library board president Tom Rankin said the it’s important the city council work to maintain the same funding amount.

“It’s the city council that has to approve the budget. The mayor has a lot of influence over the budget, obviously, but it’s the city council that has to approve it,” Rankin told WRFA following the October board meeting. “We’re pushing the city council to keep this institution open and give the needed funding to the library. The mayor is proposing yet another deficit budget and hoping the state will come in. We’re asking for five percent of the deficit, or even a tiny percentage of the overall operating budget, with that extra $50,000.”

Library officials have said the cut would drastically impact services, including the ability for the library to order new materials, including books, next year.

The council will meet Monday at 6:30 p.m. to further discuss the budget and hear from library officials, which must be a approved by Dec. 1.  A budget hearing is slated for Monday Nov. 20 at 6 p.m., with the council expected to finalize and act on the budget during its Nov. 27 voting session. The council’s regular work session begins at 7:30 p.m.

Otton Von Theron’s “The Relay” – which was part of the Prendergast Library Art Collection, sold at auction on Oct. 28, 2017 for $5,000, a $1,000 more than its estimated value.

JAMESTOWN – Three more paintings from the Prendergast Library art collection have sold at auction for a total of $9,900.

According to the Stair Galleries website, the three paintings that sold as part of an Oct. 28 auction (listed below at the end of this report) had a combined estimated value between $7800 to $15,200.

The top selling painting was Otton Von Theron’s The Relay, which sold for $5000, $1000 more than its high-end estimated value.

The art sell is part of the Library’s effort to auction off its $1.17 million classic art collection. Earlier this month, six other pieces sold at a Sotheby’s auction for a combined sales price of $328,500.  Before auction, the total estimated value of those six paintings was $55,200-$85,800.

So far, nine paintings from the Prendergast Art Collection have been sold since the board voted earlier this year to auction off the art collection.  The total sales price for the nine paintings is $338,400, although a large portion of that total comes from the sale of one paintings – Jasper Cropsey’s Lake George, which sold for $275,000 on Oct. 6.  The estimated value for the nine before auction was $62,000 – $101,000.

It’s not yet known how much of the $338,400 will make its way to the Prendergast Library. During the library’s October board of trustees meeting, president Tom Rankin said he wasn’t able to say how much money the Oct. 6 auction would yield because they sales were not yet finalized by Sotheby’s.

Jasper Francis Cropsey’s Lake George, a painting that was in the Prendergast Library’s classic art collection, sold at an Oct. 6 auction at Sotheby’s for $275,000, more than five times its estimated value.

Rankin said that any funding from the artwork auctions will be applied to the library’s endowment fund, rather than it’s general operating budget, despite there being a budget gap for 2018 due to a proposal by the city to reduce library aid by $50,000. That reduction has yet to be finalized by city council and library officials are hoping the council will restore the cut before approving a final spending plan for the city, which is due by Dec. 1.

The library has been cash-strapped in recent years due to a decline in donations from the community, as well as a reduction in aid from the city of Jamestown. To respond to the financial challenges, the library board made the decision to auction its classic art collection. That decision was meant with opposition by some members of the community, who felt the classic artwork should remain in Jamestown for the community to appreciate, as was the intent when the collection was first put together more than a century ago.

This past summer, the State Attorney General’s office granted permission to the library to deaccession and sell the collection, but only if done through auction.

The next auction of the art collection will feature the European artwork and will take place on Nov. 21 through Sotheby’s, with the specific paintings and estimated value to be released two weeks prior to the auction date.

PRENDERGAST PAINTINGS SOLD AT AUCTION

Oct. 28, 2017 Stair Galleries Auction

Otton Von Thoren – THE RELAY
Estimate $ 2,000-4,000
Sold for $5,000

Walter Gay – AFTER THE HUNT
Estimate $ 5,000-10,000
Sold for $4,000

Douglas Duder – EAST RIVER
Estimate $ 800-1,200
Sold for $900

October 6, 2017 Sotheby’s Auction

Jasper Francis Cropsey – LAKE GEORGE
Estimate: $30,000 — 50,000
Hammer Price: $275,000
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.55.html

Chauncey Foster Ryder – CAMEL’S HUMP
Estimate $3,000 – 5,000
Hammer Price: $16,250
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.59.html

William Trost Richards –EBBING TIDE
Estimate $15,000 — 20,000
Hammer Price: $15,000
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.54.html

Chauncey Foster Ryder – SNOW IN NOVEMBER
Estimate $3,000 — 5,000
Hammer Price: $11,875
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.57.html

John Francis Murphy – THE DAY IS DONE
Estimate $1,200 — 1,800
Hammer Price: $5,625
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.56.html

Charles Warren Eaton – AN OCTOBER SUNSET
Estimate $3,000 — 4,000
Hammer Price: $4,750
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.58.html

Jasper Francis Cropsey’s Lake George, a painting that was in the Prendergast Library’s classic art collection, sold at an Oct. 6 auction at Sotheby’s for $275,000, more than five times its estimated value.

JAMESTOWN – The James Prendergast Library board of trustees met on Thursday for its October meeting and received an update on the effort to auction off its $1.17 million classic art collection.

Board President Tom Rankin said the first of three auctions of the artwork took place earlier this month through the Sotheby’s auction house in New York and library officials were pleased with the initial results.

“The pieces that were sold were the American painters pieces and was very successful,” Rankin reported to the board and those in attendance. “We discussed with Sotheby’s that because there are still pending auctions and even with the October sales, they haven’t finalized everything because the buyers have 30 days to make payment. So we can’t publicly announce the net profits to the library at this time, but the ‘hammer’ prices are all online at the Sotheby’s website.”

WRFA located six paintings on the Southeby’s website from the Prendergast collection that were sold (complete list located below), including Jasper Francis Cropsey’s Lake George painting, which was estimated to sell for $30,000 to $50,000 but had a final hammer price of $275,000. The other paintings that sold weren’t as valuable as the Cropsey piece, but four of the five did sell higher than the estimated value.

Before auction, the total estimated value of the six paintings was $55,200-$85,800. The actual total sales for the six paintings was $328,500.

The Prendergast Library’s board of trustees during its Oct. 19, 2017 meeting.

Rankin said that any funding from the artwork auction will be applied to the library’s endowment fund, rather than it’s general operating budget, despite there being a budget gap for 2018 due to a proposal by the city to reduce library aid by $50,000. That reduction has yet to be finalized by city council and library officials are hoping the council will restore the cut before approving a final spending plan for the city, which is due by Dec. 1.

“There’s no legal restriction on the money, however [applying it to the general operating budget for next year] doesn’t make good long-term sense for the library because your yearly operational funds are one thing, but this money is supposed to go into the endowment fund and earn money forever, hopefully. So if we spend all the money on our operational budget we’re not helping our endowment and we’re not helping the future of our library.”

The library has been cash-strapped in recent years due to a decline in donations from the community, as well as a reduction in aid from the city of Jamestown. To respond to the financial challenges, the library has already had to draw more money out of its endowment fund that what it generates in annual interest during the past few years.

Two pieces of artwork in the Prendergast collection that will likely go to auction in November 2017: Left: “Industry” by French artist Eugene Romain Thirion – painted in 1874.
Right: “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” by French artist Leon Bazile Perrault, painted in 1884.
Both are from a collection of 32 paintings given to the library at the bequest of the Prendergast family.

The library’s decision to auction its classic art collection was meant with opposition by some members of the community, who felt it should remain in Jamestown for the community to appreciate, as was the intent when the collection was first put together more than a century ago.

A local group known as Save Local Art also identified Texas-based philanthropists with local ties, Jesse and Cathy Marion, to assist with keeping the art in Jamestown. At the end of 2015 the couple had offered to assist with developing a fundraising plan.

The Marions also donated $60,000 to the library at the end of 2015, in order to delay any possible sale and give the library and community time to try and find a way to keep the collection from going to auction.

The Marions later offered to purchase the collection from the library so that it could still stay in Jamestown for the community, but the board ultimately opted not to pursue that offer.

Besides delaying the sale of the art work at the request of the Save Local Art group, the library also had to wait until the State Attorney General’s office granted permission to proceed with deaccessioning the collection, because the paintings were originally purchased for the library at the bequest of local philanthropists on the condition that it permanently own the collection and put it on display for the benefit of the community.  The Attorney General’s Office eventually gave the library authorization to sell the art collection, but only if done through auction.

Meanwhile, the next auction will feature the European artwork from the Prendergast collection and will take place on Nov. 21 through Sotheby’s, with the specific paintings and estimated value to be released two weeks prior to the auction date.  Rankin said a third auction, featuring “lower end” paintings likely take place in January 2018 via the Stair Galleries auction house.

LIST OF PRENDERGAST PAINTINGS SOLD AT OCT. 6 AUCTION

Jasper Francis Cropsey – LAKE GEORGE
Estimate: $30,000 — 50,000
Hammer Price: $275,000
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.55.html

Chauncey Foster Ryder – CAMEL’S HUMP
Estimate $3,000 – 5,000
Hammer Price: $16,250
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.59.html

William Trost Richards –EBBING TIDE
Estimate $15,000 — 20,000
Hammer Price: $15,000
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.54.html

Chauncey Foster Ryder – SNOW IN NOVEMBER
Estimate $3,000 — 5,000
Hammer Price: $11,875
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.57.html

John Francis Murphy – THE DAY IS DONE
Estimate $1,200 — 1,800
Hammer Price: $5,625
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.56.html

Charles Warren Eaton – AN OCTOBER SUNSET
Estimate $3,000 — 4,000
Hammer Price: $4,750
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09635/lot.58.html

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The Prendergast Library art collection has been on display in the Prendergast Library’s Fireplace Room for the past several years.

JAMESTOWN – The Prendergast Library Board of Trustees has unanimously selected Sotheby’s to sell much of its art collection, despite pleas from several area residents who attended Thursday’s board meeting.

The action by the library board took place following nearly two years of effort by a group of area residents who’ve been working to “save the art” and keep the collection intact and in Jamestown, as intended when much of it was first purchased more than a century ago with money willed to the library from the estate of Mary Prendergast.

The most recent assessed value of the collection is $1.17 million, with the library planning to use proceeds from the auction to place in its endowment and use the interest generated to offset financial challenges in annual budget. It’s estimated such a plan would generate anywhere between $35,000 to $50,000 in additional money each year for the library, depending on how much the art actually sells for.

About two dozen people attended Thursday’s meeting, with ten of the attendees addressing the board at the start of the meeting. All but one spoke in favor of keeping the artwork.

Jamestown’s Peter Miraglia is one of several residents who spoke to the library board on Thursday, June 15 as part of an 11th hour effort to request the board not sell the library’s art collection.

Jamestown resident Pete Miraglia requested to board keep the collection, and work to leverage as both a fundraising and educational component of its programming.

“I appreciate that the library board provided the time for a buyer to step forward to keep the art in the community. However, as you know, a recent legal ruling made it virtually impossible to keep the art in Jamestown if it is sold,” Maraglia said, referring to a Surrogate Court decision announced last month that stated that if the artwork is sold, it can only be done through reputable auction house. “There are other ways to provide the library funds from the artwork. One way would be to lease the art to a group, who would house, maintain and promote it. This community has been bringing to life projects that a few years ago no one else could imagine. This is not the time to start going backwards.”

Another city resident, Timothy Starr, said the board was being shortsighted.

“It seems to me like there are options that haven’t been considered. It seems to me that the math doesn’t work very well,” Starr said. “If the collection is only worth one-plus-however-many million dollars, and if the salaries of the library alone are $700,000, or if [the sale proceeds] are added to the endowment and we get $35-$45,000 a year, why is it that that’s being considered as such a drastic solution that will have so little long-term benefit for us?”

And yet another area resident, Bill Locke, who’s also part of the save the art group, read a statement that was purportedly written by Jesse Marion, a Texas-based businessman. He and his wife Cathy, who is from the Jamestown area, are philanthropists who had offered to purchase the collection for its assessed value in order to keep it in Jamestown. That offer was turned down due to conditions outlined in the ruling by the Surrogate Cout.

“Libraries, newspapers and even books themselves are becoming extinct,” Locke read. “Art, however, can be an important cultural connection to our past and present for thousands of  years. Is $30-50,000 a year from increased endowment really worth the destruction of a dream and a treasure? I think not.”

Part of the statement read by Locke also admonished the board for its decision to sell the collection, rather than work with community members to find an alternative solution.

“I suggest that the entire board resign and the library find new leadership with strong personal and financial commitment to the library, the city, and its citizens,” Locke said.

Jeff Holroyd of Jamestown defended the board’s decision to sell the art collection, saying that if residents were in favor of saving the art, they should have supported a public funding referendum for the library that failed in 2016.

Not all who spoke were against selling the artwork. Jeff Holroyd of Jamestown said the library really has no other option after residents failed to support it during last year’s failed funding initiative referendum.

“Everyone had the chance to come and vote and put it on the tax. I know everyone gets touchy about increased taxes, but it was out there and we wouldn’t be having that meeting today if it had passed last year,” Holroyd said, adding, “This isn’t a museum. The sign outside says its a museum but it’s not. Is there a curator here or downstairs qualified to take care of that art that’s deteriorating on a daily basis?”

Following the statements from the public, the board unanimously approved the Sotheby’s resolution with no discussion, comment, or response to any one who spoke or was in attendance. However, following the meeting, Prendergast Board president Tom Rankin said that he and the board remains sympathetic to the Save the Art supporters.

“I sympathize with the folks that want to keep the collection, I absolutely sympathize with them. I don’t want you to think otherwise,” Rankin said. “I think when those folks asked us to delay once again selling the art collection, the board felt strongly that we’ve waited long enough. We’ve suffered some financial setbacks beyond our control, and we really need to help ourselves at this point so we can keep the doors open.”

Rankin said that the terms of the contract with Sotheby’s is that the library will receive 100 percent of any final bid placed on any artwork that is sold at auction. He said that the media should check with Sotheby’s to get the specific details on how it will make its profit. It’s believed that will happen by assessing buyers fee on anyone who purchases a piece of art at auction.

The artwork will be sent to Sotheby’s in the coming weeks so it can be cleaned and prepared for auction, with the sale likely taking place in the fall.

The only artwork that will remain in possession of the Predengast Library are the pieces that have a direct connection to Jamestown’s and the surrounding area’s history, such as portraits of the Prendergast family.

The Prendergast Library art collection has been on display in the Prendergast Library’s Fireplace Room for the past several years.

JAMESTOWN – The James Prendergast Library board of trustees will hold its monthly meeting Thursday, with the possibility of library officials acting on a measure involving the future of the Prendergast art collection, with an estimated value of $1.17 million dollars.

Last month the library announced it had reached an agreement with the state’s attorney general’s office that would allow it to sell the collection, but only if done so by auction. The agreement was necessary because the library had filed a request with Surrogate Court to allow the auction to proceed, but the AG’s office was initially against the sale. The primary concern from the AG was that library, which is a nonprofit organization, may not receive the actual full value if it were to just sell the collection to any buyer. Instead, the AG insisted the sale only take place via an auction.

With the agreement in place, the board can now proceed with identifying an auction house to facilitate the sale, and there’s a possibility they will select an auction house during today’s meeting.

BOARD SUPPORTS SELLING COLLECTION, DESPITE LOCAL EFFORT TO SAVE IT

The library board is in unanimous support of selling the collection, saying it would help with the financial challenges the library currently faces. In recent years the library has seen the amount of public donations decrease, and last year the Jamestown City Council, due to the city’s on financial challenges, voted to eliminate $250,000 in contributions to the library. That amounted to a 21 percent cut in operational revenue for the library.

Prendergast Library board president Tom Rankin talks with attendees, many of them in favor of saving the art collection, during an October 2015 public input session. Despite the support expressed during that meeting and other meetings the past two years, Rankin has recently said there is overwhelming public support to sell the artwork.

Board president Tom Rankin also recently said in an op-ed piece that there is overwhelming support in the community to sell the collection, with 99 percent of the participants saying that “the library should no longer have an art collection or even be in the ‘museum business.'”

However, WRFA spoke with some community members who support keeping the art earlier this week, and they disagree with Rankin’s statement.

“My wife and I ran into a gentleman from Westfield, an art collector and art enthusiast, and he was in one of those focus groups. There were 12 people in his focus group. When presented with the option to sell the art or keep it, not a single person said, ‘Sell the art.’ I have another friend who was in a separate focus group and he describes the same situation. So I think Mr. Rankin is a little off in his facts,” explained local resident Bill Locke.

“There are a lot of people who think they should sell the art, that is true,” added another member of the group, Robert Plyler, who until recently also wrote for the Post-Journal.  “But most of those people have never heard the whole story of what has gone on and one of the problems has been the difficulty we’ve had of getting the three news papers to share that story. People would write to me and say ‘I love that art. I grew up on it. My parents took me to see it. I want it saved’ and I would say, ‘Well write to the paper.’ They would reply with, ‘I did, but it was never printed.’ Person after person told me that.”

Rankin also suggests that those who support keeping the artwork in Jamestown at the library are comprise a loosely organized group who have done nothing to help raise money or offer suggestions on how the library can fix its financial situation.

Plyler takes issue with that, pointing out that it was the local residents who were able to bring the Texas-based couple Jesse and Cathy Marion into the discussion (Cathy Marion is also a Jamestown-area native), and they ended up making a $60,000 donation to the library, while also offering help in save the collection by working to upgrade the library facilities.

The Prendergast Library Association Board of Trustees during its May 2017 board meeting.

“The board at first said they wanted to sell the art collection because they library didn’t have the appropriate facilities to accommodate an expensive art collection,” Plyler said. “[The Marions] were shocked that this artwork was in danger so they offered to pay for the cleaning, the repairs, the framing, and the security system, the climate control, and so on. Everyone thought ‘well good, the problem is solved.’ But that turned out to not really be why the library board wanted to sell the art. They wanted the money.”

The Marions then donated $60,000 to the library to buy time in order for officials to come up with an alternative plan to selling the collection. And late last year they offered to purchase the entire art collection for its assessed value of $1.17 million so that it would continue to stay in the community, even if the library no longer wanted it. But that offer had to be turned down because of the agreement with the attorney general’s office.

Rankin has stated that the board will no longer delay the effort to sell the artwork in order to find an alternative solution.

“The library’s funding problems dictate that the library cannot wait up to another twenty-four months to sell the art collection,” Rankin said in the recent op-ed. “The library will now proceed to sell its art collection through an auction house that can successfully handle a collection of this size and quality.”

The library board meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. Thursday in the Library Fireplace room and is open to the public.

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WRFA public affairs director Jason Sample talks with a three local residents – Bill Locke, Robert Plyler, and Nancy Bargar – who are part of a larger group that supports keeping a $1.17 million art collection at the James Prendergast Library in tact and remaining in the Jamestown area.

Since September 2015 the library has been working to sell the collection to help address ongoing financial challenges it has faced in recent years. In May 2017, the library board announced that it had reached an agreement with the New York State Attorney General’s office, allowing it to move forward and auction the collection.

Our guests explain why they feel it is important the library board works to keep the art in the Jamestown community, as well as offer some clarifications to recent comments in the press made by board president Tom Rankin in regards to overwhelming support by the community to sell the collection, as well as a lack of an effort by their group to help address the financial challenges facing the library or offer to purchase the collection to keep it local.

The board could act as soon as its June 15 meeting to hire an auction house to begin the process of selling the collection. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. in the Library Fireplace room and is open to the public.

Two pieces of artwork in the Prendergast collection that could be auctioned in the coming months: Left: “Industry” by French artist Eugene Romain Thirion – painted in 1874.
Right: “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” by French artist Leon Bazile Perrault, painted in 1884.
Both are from a collection of 32 paintings given to the library at the bequest of the Prendergast family.