Va. High Court Blocks Sale of Artworks

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday halted financially ailing Randolph College's plans to sell four paintings at auction this month, including a work by early 20th century master George Bellows.

The high court lowered from $10 million to $1 million the bond opponents of the sale must post to keep an injunction in force -- and gave them a Dec. 3 deadline for coming up with the money. The extension of the deadline effectively halted the planned sales at least until then.

The opponents were unable to meet the previous deadline of Thursday to post the higher bond. The high court's brief order gave no detail on its reasoning for lowering the bond and extending the deadline.

The New York-based Christie's auction house had planned to sell Rufino Tamayo's "Trovador" at its Latin American sale Monday. The other three paintings -- "Men of the Docks" by Bellows, "A Peaceable Kingdom" by Edward Hicks and "Through the Arroyo" by Ernest Hennings -- were to be sold at auction Nov. 29.

Officials at the liberal arts college in Lynchburg, a former all-women's school that began enrolling men this fall, hoped the paintings would bring at least $32 million. Christie's estimated the Bellows painting alone could fetch as much as $35 million, which would be a record for a work of American art sold at auction.

Opponents called the planned sale a breach of public trust. Although the school owns the paintings, they said, it has an ethical duty to keep and preserve them for the education and cultural enrichment of the students and the community.

But college officials said the art sale was the only way they could strengthen Randolph's financial position before an upcoming review by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, an accrediting agency that has put the college on warning.

"We have substantially cut budgets, done everything we can do to make sure this college is operating in a lean and efficient manner," said Randolph spokeswoman Brenda Edson.

Lynchburg Circuit Court Judge Leyburn Mosby Jr. had issued the injunction to stop the sale but set a bond amount that was more than the plaintiffs could raise by Thursday's deadline. Anne Yastremski, executive director of a group funding the lawsuit, said in an e-mail that the $1 million bond set by the Supreme Court is "more manageable."

If the plaintiffs post that bond by Dec. 3, Randolph will be barred from selling the paintings for six months, the court said. The plaintiffs want the sale stopped while lawsuits challenging the college's conversion to coeducational status are pending.

Of the four paintings, the most valuable is the Bellows piece, which Yastremski said was bought in 1920 by an association of townspeople, alumnae and faculty to improve the arts in Lynchburg. It cost $2,500 at that time.

Bellows, who lived from 1882 to 1925, was a member of the so-called Ashcan School, a small group of New York City artists trying to record everyday happenings of their urban environment.

Christie's said in a statement that it was disappointed by the ruling and still hopes to sell the paintings at a later date.