A disagreement, a messy lawsuit and a move down the street sound more like the aftermath of a divorce than the closing of a museum, but that is exactly what is happening.
The Terra Museum of American Art soon will be packing its bags and sending some of its paintings down the road to their new home at the Art Institute of Chicago.
After a suit among the museum’s board members was settled in 2001, a new board headed by Marshall Field V decided in June 2003 to close the Terra Museum’s Chicago location in October 2004.
The board also decided to permanently loan the Art Institute its 350 works on paper and to allow the institute to display any 50 of its 300 paintings upon request.
In the meantime, the Terra Museum is hosting a series of six exhibitions that display early American modernist works from artists like Helen Torr, Alfred Stieglitz and George Bellows. The 16-month series focuses on what modernism was between 1893 and 1940 in Chicago, New York and Paris and how these three artists related to the movement.
“What is innovative is that it looks at modernism from multiple points of view,” said the museum’s curator Betsy Kennedy. “It’s unique for a museum to look at one subject for an extended period of time.”
While the Terra remains open for the exhibitions, the board of directors are currently researching and discussing new ways to support American art through continued programming, lectures and scholarships once the museum is closed.
Daniel Terra started the Terra Foundation for the Arts in Evanston in 1980. Seven years later, it moved to its current location at 664 N. Michigan Avenue. In 1992, Terra opened another museum in Giverny, France.
Displayed in both museums, Terra’s personal collection includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, and prints by American artists such as John Singleton Copley, James A. McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer and Georgia O’Keeffe.
Following Terra’s death in 1996, his widow, Judith Terra, advocated moving the museum to Washington, D.C., saying her husband had wanted to do so before he died, Kennedy said. Conflict arose when members of the board did not want the museum to leave Chicago.
“Anytime you have a strong founder who dies, you have a drift of what the mission should be,” said Elizabeth Glassman, director of the Terra Museum.
A litigation process began when board members Ron Gidwitz and Dean Buntrock sued Judith Terra and two other board members for mismanaging the $450 million foundation. The suit alleged that Judith Terra may have consciously tried to undermine the Chicago museum to justify a move to Washington, D.C., according to a Chicago Tribune article.
At the time of the litigation, Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan was overseeing the Terra Museum as he did all charitable trusts, which are created for the purpose of performing charity or providing social benefits. During his investigation of the foundation’s mismanagement Ryan found evidence supporting the museum’s stay in Chicago.
“It is not at all unusual for an attorney general to become involved in cases like this,” said the current Assistant Attorney General Therese Harris, who also worked on the case. “It ended well because the board voted on a settlement and the court approved it.”
After the litigation was settled in a mediated settlement of the board in 2001, all board members resigned their positions, opening up 15 spots for the new board.
Once the Art Institute acquires the Terra Museum’s most important paintings and entire collection of works on paper, it will hold one of the world’s top five collections of American art.
“At the Art Institute, these will be augmented by stellar collections of American decorative arts, sculpture, photography, textiles and architecture,” Art Institute Director and President James Wood wrote in a statement. “The citizens of Chicago and visitors from throughout the nation and around the world will be the beneficiaries of this decision.”
Attracting about 1 million visitors annually, the Art Institute will continue to expose people to the Terra Museum’s collection, allowing for the advancement and appreciation of American art, which was the mission of Daniel Terra, the museum’s founder.
“My goal was to try to create a scenario to continue to operate the foundation’s mission and continue to deepen the fulfillment of that mission,” Elizabeth Glassman said.
To better accomplish that goal, the board of directors will continue to operate the Mus
