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.
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In trying to deal with so many facts in a short time, we never pointed out that, while Mr. Rankin has said in several different forums that the “Save Local Art” group has never contributed anything to the library, in fact, the library demanded $60,000 ransom so that they would not sell the art for one year, which the Marions paid. After a year, the Marions offered to buy the art and keep it in Jamestown for $1.17 million, which would have brought their donation to $1,230,000, so they didn’t feel they needed to pay an additional $60,000 in ransom for another year, yet Rankin has been claiming that they “backed out of their offer.” Such claims are shameful.
Thank you, Robert for that additional truth.