On Thursday, a final appraisal by Christie’s of a key part of the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts was released to the public by the office of Kevyn Orr, the city’s emergency manager. In its report, the auction house considers less than 5 percent of the museum’s 66,000-strong collection — specifically, the 2,781 works that were purchased in whole or in part with city funds, and which are therefore likelier than donated items to be considered for sale if Orr deems the collection fair game in his efforts to dig Detroit out of its financial hole.
“It’s easiest to establish provenance for the city-purchased art,” Bill Nowland, a spokesperson for Kevyn Orr, wrote in an email. “Other city-owned art could be subject to donation covenants or reversion rights. In those cases, each work’s provenance would need to be researched to establish clear title.” He said that for over 60,000 pieces, that kind of process could take years to complete. Orr’s plan of adjusment, in which he’ll propose financial plan for the city, is expected in early January.
A mere 11 items are thought to account for 75 percent of the value of the works the report considers. Those 11, along with their fair market value according to Christie’s, are listed in the report on the emergency manager’s website, but we’ve culled them and put them into a slideshow.
Click here to see the works in question, along with their respective valuations.
