Take down requests and C&D letters will be forwarded to my attorney Marc J. Randazza.
Christopher L. Jorgensen
PO Box 546
Ames, IA 50010
April 22, 2008
Des Moines Art Center
4700 Grand Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50312-2099
Dear Des Moines Art Center,
A while back I went to your Art Center to see “Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery” by Joseph Cornell, but was told it was “on loan.” This seems like a great program to me. I didn’t realize you did this.
I am a huge Francis Bacon fan and would like to borrow, “Study After Velasquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X.” I have a place above my bed picked out for it, though admittedly this might upset the girlfriend. She would rather we get “Automat” by Edward Hopper. I told her I would ask.
How many can I borrow at a time? If it’s only one I guess we’ll take the Hopper (have to keep the girlfriend happy!). But in this case, any chance I could buy the Bacon?
If you deliver, just send them to the above address, or contact me with a good time for us to pick them up.
Thanks,
Christopher L. Jorgensen
Des Moines Art Center
April 23, 2008
Christopher L. Jorgensen
P.O. Box 546
Ames, IA 50010
Dear Mr. Jorgensen:
Thank you for your inquiry into the loan of the Des Moines Art Center’s work by Joseph Cornell entitled Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery. I regret that the artwork was out on loan when you visited the museum.
When you visited, Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery was at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. in a major retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work where is was seen by thousands of visitors. It is common practice for art museums to lend their works of art to other museums for exhibition projects. This is how the museum field adds to the scholarship of works of art and adds to the cultural record in general. For example, our painting Automat is currently at the Art Institute of Chicago in a major Hopper exhibition, after the exhibition’s stop at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Our Francis Bacon painting will soon travel to the Prado Museum in Madrid, The Tate Modern in London, and finally the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York before it returns to us. Likewise, the Art Center will be borrowing 75 works of art from major museums across the country for an exhibition entitled After Many Springs opening here January 2009.
I hope this give you a better understanding of why this work waas not on view during your visit to the Art Center. Please come again.
Best regards,
Jeff Fleming
Director
EDMUNDSON ART FOUNDATION, INC.
4700 GRAND AVENUE, DES MOINES, IOWA 50312-2099 TEL 515.277.4405 FAX 515.271.0357
Respondent Website:
Des Moines Art Center
