April 11, 2005

Public Library to sell art to buy 'important books'

The New York Public Library plans to sell the best pieces of its art collection in hopes up raising upwards of $75 million to "better compete in acquisitions of important books and collections," the New York Times reports.

Among the 15 paitings and four busts up for sale through Sotheby's is Asher B. Durand's "Kindred Spirits," as well as two Gilbert Stuart portraits of President Washington, which are on loan to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. through July 31.

"We're not a museum," Paul LeClerc, the library's president, told the Times.

April 11, 2005 7:50 AM in Sightsology

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