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The Berkshire Museum is a museum of art,
natural history, and
ancient civilization that is located in
Pittsfield in
Berkshire County
Berkshire County (pronounced ) is a county on the western edge of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,026. Its largest city and traditional county seat is Pittsfield. The county was founded in ...
,
Massachusetts ( United States).
History
The Berkshire Museum, founded by local paper magnate Zenas Crane, opened in 1903.
The building was designed by the local architect Henry Seaver.
The museum's first curator was
Harlan H. Ballard, who stayed in that role until early 1931. He was replaced by
Laura M. Bragg who became director of the museum.
When Ellen Crane, Zenas's wife, died in 1934, she left a bequest of $100,000 to the museum.
Gallery
File:Robert Reid - The Trio - Google Art Project.jpg, Robert Lewis Reid
Robert Lewis Reid (July 29, 1862 – December 2, 1929) was an American Impressionist painter and muralist. His work tended to be very decorative, much of it centered on depiction of young women set among flowers. He later became known for h ...
, ''The Trio'', 1898
Renovations
The Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation opened in March 2008. This new hall falls in line with the museum's traditional "curiosity cabinet" appeal and is dedicated to local innovators.
In October 2014, Berkshire Museum's "Dino Dig" paleontology exhibition was replaced by Spark!Lab, a hands-on, inventors laboratory space developed by the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
.
Sale of art controversy
In July 2017, the Board of Directors at the Berkshire Museum announced a plan to sell the most significant portion of their art collection including two
Norman Rockwell paintings, ''Blacksmith’s Boy – Heel and Toe'' (Shaftsbury Blacksmith Shop) (1940) and ''
Shuffleton’s Barbershop'' (1950), which were given to the museum by Norman Rockwell himself. They contracted with
Sotheby's to auction a total of 40 pieces from their collection. The art was removed from the museum before the sale was announced, and museum officials initially refused to name the works that were to be sold. The estimated proceeds from the sale would be $50 million. The art sale created considerable controversy not only among the residents of Berkshire County, but within the larger art world.
The
Massachusetts Attorney General's brief of October 30, 2017, supported opposition to the sale and joined the plaintiffs in court.
On November 1, 2017, before a packed courthouse, Judge John A. Agostini heard arguments on both sides of the controversy centered on the right of the plaintiffs to sue. His ruling was published on November 7, denying the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and dismissing the non-governmental plaintiffs for lack of standing. Nevertheless, the
Massachusetts Appeals Court
The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, the same ...
granted a temporary injunction to halt the sale that expired on December 11. The sale was opposed by members of the museum as well as the descendants of Norman Rockwell, who donated work to the museum with the understanding that it would always remain at the museum. Museum organizations condemned the plan to sell the items, with the state’s lawyers asserting that the museum intended to sell nearly all of its valuable art to subsidize operating and other expenses.
After months of negotiating at the Appellate Court level, a tentative settlement was reached on February 9, 2018, between the plaintiffs and the Attorney General's office. As of March 20, that settlement was in the hands of Justice David A. Lowy of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...
, following a hearing involving lawyers from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, the museum, and two separate groups of plaintiffs opposing the settlement.
On April 11, 2018, it was announced that the Berkshire Museum had sold ''Shuffleton's Barbershop'' by Rockwell to the
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art for an undisclosed amount.
[ The painting was to be loaned to the Norman Rockwell Museum in nearby Stockbridge for display into 2020.][ Other works, including ''Blacksmith’s Boy – Heel and Toe'', were scheduled for sale at a Sotheby's auction in May 2018.]
References
External links
*
Berkshire Museum
within Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world.
It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...
*
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Museums in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Natural history museums in Massachusetts
Aquaria in Massachusetts
Museums established in 1903
1903 establishments in Massachusetts
Association of Science-Technology Centers member institutions
Paleontology in Massachusetts
